down and out in sunny southern vale
by spooky-lilith
Summary: Ruby Rose, fresh out of High School, makes a living doing portraits for tourists who have too much money to spare. One day, the disowned heiress of the Schnee Dust Company drunkenly asks for her portrait to be done. Now with smut!
1. throwing up on my boots is so romantic

This story takes place in an AU where Remnant and the four kingdoms exist, but the Grimm aren't a thing so hunters/huntresses aren't a thing either. Neither is magic, or any of the fantastical elements in RWBY, and the world of Remnant is at our level of technology.

CW: Vomiting, Disownment by Family for Homophobia, Underage Alcohol Use, Underage Marijuana Use, Underage Cigarette Use.

* * *

**Ruby**

**_"Me and the GF celebrating our second year anniversary with THE SQUAD! Patch High Memories 3"_**

"Yeah, she's not texting me back. Time to move on." Ruby grumbles under her breath, almost whisking the water cup with her dirty paintbrushes.

Today had been slow for turnout, on account of the slow winter venue, a typically weak turnout on Thursdays, and the wildfires currently burning down the inland Valean countryside. Only one portrait produced, for an especially snobby tourist who'd complained that her brushstrokes were too wide, that her color palette lacked 'range,' that it was amateur she didn't know how to watercolor. Par for the course when you're a street artist, when your wages were dependent on the patronage of beachfront tourism and you didn't exactly have the luxury of your rights as an artist.

No, her skin was thick enough to survive those kinds of wounds. What was souring her mood right now was her life outside of work. Or the lack of thereof. Ruby Rose had been the black sheep of Signal High School's GSA. Only today, she was now officially a 'nobody' to them. The class of 2218 was unofficially named, 'Signal's Gayest Year Ever,' by the Signal Union Tribune, on account of the amount of same-sex couples flourishing that year. Including the Homecoming Drag Kings, Millicent and Sera.

A bloody 'Yuritopia' as Ruby had coined it, only to be left as the odd one out at the end of it all.

And from an outsider's perspective, Ruby Rose, graduate of Signal's class of 2218, was very much part of that queer Zeitgeist. Her only problem was that she'd forced herself into that so called queer Zeitgeist.

Ruby Rose was an awkward girl, she couldn't deny that. Most people were, but Ruby's diagnosis of general anxiety disorder wasn't the fun, quirky type of anxiety so often depicted in media. It was something terribly debilitating on her social and professional life she'd learned to live with. And with the help of therapy and Yang, she'd found her way into the school GSA, a social circle who at the time, tolerated her presence. Until now.

Sure, she still felt lonely, but who wasn't, underneath it all? And maybe she was just being too dependent on validation from social media, like so many other technologically addicted zoomers.

But as much as she tried to tell herself this, she found herself stuck in those same self-loathing patterns she'd gotten too familiar with to want to break out on her own. And she wanted to chalk up most of what she perceived as everyone's disdain of her to just outright paranoia, like her therapist and Yang always told her. But she was always the one to 'message first' in relationships. Always the one organizing everything she took part in, and always the first of the group to be axed in more 'intimate groups.' Always the one who had to move out of the way in the group, always the one who didn't have a 'bestie' in the group. Always the one who had to remind everyone of her birthday, always the one to make everyone laugh. And always the one noone was there for when she was hurting.

**Ruby 08/11/2218: Hey girl! Long time no see :p How's the GF doing?**

**Ruby 09/28/2218: Duuude just found this place around the place that you work that serves up the best egg scramble, u wanna head there for brunch?**

**Ruby 12/13/2218: Hey, isn't it ur bday this month? u wanna do something together?**

The date today was the fifteenth of December, and Ruby had only herself to blame for her lack of friends. She could have been more interesting, worked on her personality more, not be so hyper and energetic as she usually was and scare off nearly everyone who came her way. Right? Noone had to like her, that was only logical! Anything more would be outright entitlement, right?

But…

She was alone now. Stuck doing self-portraits for tourists with too much money to spend on the La Mer Beach promenade. As long as she kept these… entitled thoughts to herself, she was in the clear. No one had to see her when she was like this. She could think these thoughts to herself without having to worry about Yang or someone else telling her how wrong she was.

The radio FM on her phone cuts to the news. Letting her thoughts roam free with destructive self-pity and misery. One more summer of this, and maybe she'd be creatively productive again.

**_"In other news, Weiss Schnee, former heiress to Schnee Dust Co. has been reportedly disowned by her father and Schnee Dust Co's executive team, after her expulsion from the University of Southern Vale. President of the Company, Jacques Schnee, is expected to name his youngest son, Whitley Schnee to take his former daughter's place..."_**

**_"So let's just keep this short!" Apparently it was a clip from the news event. "I'm fucking gay, my daddy is the devil, and the reason Vale's battery prices are so high is because daddy's using his monopoly on lithium imports to squeeze you all! Thank you, good night!_**

"Do you make portraits?" A voice slurs, stirring Ruby out of her rut.

From appearances alone, the girl clearly was inebriated. And she'd seen so many of her type before. Mildly tanned (in her case, burnt, she clearly was not the type that tanned well), with long white hair done up in a side ponytail that clearly had seen better days. One chic white bolero slapped perfectly onto a white sundress that found its elegance in simplicity. She was clearly a foreigner, fifty-fifty odds of being a tourist or a student. Giving it away was her slight Atlesian accent that came through, no matter how much she slurred her words.

"Yeah I can do yours." Ruby tries smiling, but the effects of sitting out in shop, right in the midst of La Mer Beach's open-air plaza was taking its toll on her. And the walkway's sand was starting to getting into some pretty uncomfortable places. Especially under her skirt and tights. Not comfortable. "It might take a while though, and that might lead to us staying out in the dark. Is that okay?"

"Why is it going to take so long?" The girl demands.

Ruby's answer comes out before she can shut herself up. "Because I'd like to spend some extra time just to capture the background sunset behind you. I'd think it'd make you look especially pretty. Like, almost as if your hair's sparkling against the winds of the sea."

And… she had just said that. She was doing this. Had she accidentally eaten one of Nora's 'special' cookies before heading off today?

But the girl before her was clearly drunk. And it was probably unethical for her to be accepting a commission from her, but the shoulder strap of the girl's sundress just hung off her shoulder in just the right way for Ruby to forget her usual anxieties.

"Thank you." The girl sighs. "Do you need me to stand?" She nearly wobbles over and eats the dirt just saying the word 'stand.' "Or sit? How do you usually do this..."

"Just sitting up on that bench over there is fine." Ruby says, preparing a fresh easel.

The girl groans, so unlike her likely wealthy heritage. "But I don't want to sit up for more than a minute, it makes my head hurt!" Demonstrating her drunkenness, she lies down atop a nearby bench, facing the orange sun. Only it must have been an uncomfortable rest given that La Mer city had installed rails designed to fuck the homeless people trying to sleep there.

"That's… perfect." Ruby mutters. For some artists, there really wasn't a line between artistic admiration, and being plain horny (not to imply that there wasn't a fine line between acceptable and unacceptable conduct, gods knew how many artists used their 'artistic mentalities to justify being perverted or assholish). But there was something to the girl's air that just seemed to sparkle, besides her perfectly kept silver hair sashayed against the seaside breeze. An almost statuesque form, likely cultivated by high cost/effort bodily maintenance. No, there was something about the girl that resonated in her. Called out to her in just the right way that set all of Ruby's alarms off and-

Oh wait, gaydar. That's what was going off. Ruby Rose was gay, and she thought the girl she was doing a portrait was a gay. Just another day in the life of a useless lesbian.

For the first time in what felt like forever, it felt like she was channeling something into her paintbrush. Not to say she hadn't put in effort for her other portraits, far from that. But this was something separate from effort. It wasn't something that could be forced into her work, it was more of a feeling akin to passion, alike feeling, and similar to-

Oh wait. Gay energy. That was what she was channeling into the girl's portrait.

Her work, and her time flies by. The drunken girl nearly dozes off, hanging on the edge of lucidity; Ruby offers her, her canteen of water, hoping to soothe the girl when the alcohol's reckoning would inevitably come.

One hour and fifteen minutes is all it takes for her portrait to be finished. Just as the sun dips below the distant shore of La Mer Beach, as the girl is in the midst of ranting about her father and the boys he keeps setting her up with. Six times, she's mentioned that.

Six mistakes, Ruby's flubbed in the portrait. It's enough to make her want to tear the damned thing up.

"Finished. I hope." Ruby grins, wiping off the sweat on her brow with her jacket sleeve. "Uh, hey, you feeling alright?"

"E-wha?" The girl mumbles, barely lucid. She'd likely have to drag her back to her apartment for the night, wouldn't she? She couldn't just let her rot out here. Right?

"Drink some more water girl." Ruby sighs, shaking her canteen and offering it to her. "It'll help you feel better later."

The girl groans in clear pain, but manages to get off her rest, stumbling to the pavement. Ruby offers a hand that's swatted away weakly, the girl instead leans her back against the bench for support.

"I can't… I can't discuss payment with you while you're like this." Ruby says. Truthfully, she shouldn't have done her portrait while she was like this. But she just had to have the eyes that Ruby got lost in, and bad decisions, gay decisions.

"Nonsense." She grumbles. "I am a Schnee, and a Schnee always repays her debts."

"I, wait, a Schnee?" Ruby racks her memory for answers. "Wasn't Schnee the girl on the Pulse news podcast?"

At the mention of her name, the girl goes deathly quiet. Silently terrified, her engagement rendered nil by the question.

A pit forms in Ruby's stomach. "Uh, did I… say something wrong?"

"No." She lies, eyes wet. "Your portrait of me. I-It's quite beautiful."

Ruby was always a paranoid girl, but she liked to think her paranoia taught her how to catch a lie. Catch when someone actually meant they were interested in her, when someone was just feigning it. When someone made a promise they couldn't keep, which seemed to be especially common, moreso for Ruby than others in life. But maybe that was just the paranoia speaking to her.

Then again, when hadn't her paranoia been right all along?

Ruby tries her best to shrug nonchalantly at the girl, even while her heart pangs at the reminder. Fuck the portrait, if Ruby was about to have a moment, she was not going to have it in front of some drunk girl. Her shrug probably came off more as an attempt to posture given their height differences. Then she just has to open her mouth. "Of course it's beautiful. You're beautiful."

Honestly, she hadn't been trying to come up with a line that cheesy. If Yang were here, she wouldn't have let go of it for years.

But the girl by some damned miracle appears actually quite flattered. That, or she's drunk out of her mind.

"How much?" The girl slurs, keeping Ruby from seeing her eyes by digging around through her purse.

Ruby sighs, resolving to keep her mood in until the girl's gone and left. "Again, I won't discuss payment now but my usual rate is sixty-"

"Sixty?!" The girl recoils, nearly offended by her price. Oh gods, another one of these customers. She'd already had to deal with a bargainer today, two merchantmen were two too many! "That price is so outrageous!"

"I mean… take it or leave it." Ruby rolls her eyes, her sympathy for the girl having collapsed like a shoddy shack built over a sinkhole. Her hands now holding on tightly to the finished piece. "You think art is just another cheap hobby?"

The girl glares right at her, with an unconcentrated anger Ruby couldn't tell was meant for her or not. "Of course not! Art is art, and your piece I would commission for at least Seven-Hundred Lien!"

"Seven-hundred slo-mo bills WHAT!?" Ruby stammers, nearly falling over. Seven-hundred Lien. Thoughts racing with how many of Nora's 'special cookies,' she could order.

'No, no.' She might be able to make that missed payment on their beachside apartment's rent. 'Responsibilities Ruby! You're an adult now… regrettably.'

"Are you… sure?" Ruby tepidly asks, struggling to pick her jaw off the ground. "I've never charged more than two-seventy for one piece-"

"I may be disowned, but I am still a Schnee!" The girl slurs, stepping forward. Scowling at the apparently underpaid street artist with those delicate lips of hers. Though they were a little chapped. She really needed to invest in some lipstick-

Ruby shakes her head in disbelief. _**'In other news, Weiss Schnee, former heiress to Schnee Dust Co. has been reportedly disowned by her father and Schnee Dust Co's executive team, after her expulsion from the University of Southern Vale...'** _The cogs in her brain finally remember to turn. "Wait, didn't you just get disowned!? Can you really go around spending this much money on a painting?"

"Of course!" *hic* "I still have a trust fund. Probably." The alleged heiress frowns, her cheeks glowing considerably pinker by the second. "I… suppose I should check my scroll." She mumbles, nearly fumbling the silver white device out of her hands. The newest Olive uScroll 8.5, a device not even made available to the general public yet.

If the rich girl fumbling around with her purse weren't so damned gorgeous, her situation not so precarious, and the street artist serving her wasn't so hopelessly gay, Ruby might have bemoaned the inequalities of life inflicted upon her by unjust economic circumstances.

But a quiet sob while she's waiting breaks Ruby out of her concerned stupor; the girl was burying her head inside her bag. Sobbing into her sleeve. Anguished, pained, and wracked with the succor of a pent-up misery that one needed to keep on simmer for years to achieve.

The girl's eyes look up briefly; her eyes were nearly dead to the world, and stewing inside was a cocktail of emotions Ruby was all too familiar with.

"Go away." The girl sobs, shooting her a brief 'I did not want anyone to see me like this' glare, before breaking down into tearfulness again.

Another pang in her chest, this time of sympathy. Of course Ruby felt sympathetic, she'd cried before. Everyone had cried before, but it took something else to push someone over the edge and have comfort, not just sympathy and well wishes. She wasn't sure what exactly had pushed Ruby over the edge, but all she could do was breathe as her arms instinctively wrapped around the lithe girl.

"L-let go of me-" The girl cries, sobbing in between words.

"I know you don't want this but this is what I wanted when I was sad like you so don't kill me please!"

An uneasy laugh between sobs. "I'm not… I'm…" She buries her head in Ruby's shoulder, wretched tears soaking through her ratty thrift store jacket. Uneasy arms wrap around Ruby's midsection, her weight pressing against Ruby's body. Ruby never really was the athletic type in High School, so she gently guides the poor girl to the ground to redistribute their weights.

Tears dripping against concrete. Her knees nearly buckle, almost sending their embrace crashing towards the sidewalk.

"There… there…" Ruby cooes, awkwardly patting the ex-heiress on the back.

"I'm not sad." The girl whispers, body trembling.

Ruby scoffs. "Really? It looks like-"

It's far too late. Ruby finally gets her gist when she hears an all too familiar sound; the alcohol the girl had decided to indulge herself in. The girl does her best to push her away, despite Ruby's protests. It's only when she's greeted by the miserable sound of the girl retching the contents in her poor stomach that she understands.

"Oh… oh. And...you got my boots." Ruby groans. They were her precious steel-toed boots, her seventeenth birthday gift from Yang. "Of course."

* * *

**Ruby**

The smell of freshly burnt incense from the city Mistral Market was enough to give Ruby that final push she needed, carrying the girl's passed out body into the house.

"Never again." Ruby sighs, jacket only lightly coated in booze-vomit. "Next time the gaydar goes off, I'll just ignore it. I mean, I'm already going to die alone with ten cats in a farm up in Patch, so why complicate things?" Her grumbling turns into an outright incoherent rant as she gathers some towels to wipe the unconscious girl off.

Ruby wasn't exactly the type known for upper body strength, but their apartment complex had been nearby and they had an elevator. In spite of the five-minute trip, the girl had insisted on making it a spectacle, vomiting again on her own clothes, screeching about how disgusting it was and tearing her clothes off in desperation.

The only other occupant of her apartment, Blake was always fine with Ruby bringing people over; mostly because the two of them were antisocial and didn't really have friends except for each other so it never really happened on either's part.

Speaking of Blake, the faunus was in as of now, her Thursday shifts letting her off the bar after happy hour. Passed out on the living room couch, running a pack of ice for what was probably a headache induced from having to deal with drunken frat/sorority life, using their intoxication as an excuse to mistreat the faunus girl. And Blake, being a faunus girl under the supervision of some middle-aged relic from the ever-so-distant past, had to deal with it if she wanted that slightly above minimum-wage paycheck.

Their apartment was pretty barren for the most part. They had three rooms; a cramped walk-in closet repurposed as a bedroom (Ruby's), a living bedroom/kitchenette combo (Blake's), and an outright cramped bathroom that Blake was certain had water damages that the landlord wouldn't bother fixing up.

Left on what their dining table was a note, with a bag of takeout, since neither of the occupants had the know-how, or desire to cook.

**_' Brought home takeout from Mo's. Yang called again today, said she might be heading back soon. Didn't say why.'_**

Mo's was a diner that served the food of queens, Ruby's physique be damned. Dinner tonight was still warm; Fried chicken on waffles, Half of what was probably Blake's cheeseburger, and a handful of potato wedges.

Complete with separate fucking pickles. It was almost enough for Ruby to forget about the passed out girl sleeping in their barren living room.

Smiling at the second part of Blake's note, Ruby sets dinner aside for the night, working to bring her clientele some towels to wipe the vomit off her cheeks and… dress her in some proper clothes. She settles on Yang's old hand-me-downs that never fitted her.

"I hate alcohol." Ruby grumbles, without any real venom in her voice. The pack of cigarettes in her now soiled jacket incriminating her hypocrisy; she transfers them over to her skirt pockets before tossing her ratty band jacket in the wash.

For the final stretch of their odyssey together, Ruby hadn't even bothered lifting the girl up, dragging her by the knee and hoisting her onto her bed. Setting her upright with two water cups and a nearby trash can for use if she needed it.

Cigarettes in hand, she tears off her leggings, then her tank, leaving her in just her skirt and bralette pair. She takes to their balcony to indulge in a cigarette buzz of her own. Hoping the night air could help her forget how cute the girl had looked, tucked in, finally comfortable, free from the weight of everything that had just happened to her on her shoulders.

* * *

**Ruby**

Ruby Rose usually woke to the soft tenor of the coming tide lapping against the jagged coastline of Saint Elise'. The incessant yet familiar squawking of seagulls carried by the salty ocean breeze. The low brum of passing ships, carrying passengers, tourists from so far beyond.

Gods their apartment walls were cheap.

No, instead she had to be greeted today with the sound of her guest screeching. Loudly.

"The fuck!?" Ruby stumbles off her bed, not even bothering to cover herself. "You're okay! You're okay! Just shut up before you piss the neighbors off!"

For a brief moment, the girl acquiesces. Before taking note of Ruby's state of dress; the same black skirt and bralette she'd smoked with last night. Her gaze is intense enough for Ruby to feel a familiar heat towards her cheeks. Then the girl screams again. Louder.

Ruby smacks her in the head with a pillow. "Gods help me girl, if you scream again I will throw your pretty face off the balcony and it is a four-story drop!"

"Who are you!? Where am I? Why am I wearing your clothes? Why are you undressed? Did we… did we…"

Ruby groans. It was far too early in the morning for her to deal with this. "I'm Ruby, the street artist you commissioned a portrait from me, which we still need to discuss payment on." She sighs, a throbbing headache already forming. Wasn't her guest supposed to be the one hungover? "You're still in La Mer beach, in my apartment I share with my roommate, Blake. You're here because I dragged you here after you threw up all over our clothes and passed out."

"Oh gods…" The girl whines, skin clammy, arms shaking. Ruby gestures towards the trash bin and the water cups near her, both of which she gulps down almost immediately.

"Damn, that was fast." Ruby whistles, handing the girl her canteen again, half-full. "Anyway, you're in my sister's flannel because you tore off your clothes in the middle of the street, complaining about how disgusting it was. And I had to drag your sorry butt back here, all by myself!"

The girl's eyes are heavy, as if she's about to cry again.

"Whoa, wait! Don't cry, it was nothing! Really! It was just the right thing to do!" She gets back on the bed, taking her hand. Not wanting her to be sad like that again. "I mean, I know I complain a lot because taking care of you was really an awkward pain in the butt-"

The girl groans, snapping her fingers. A motion that surely must have hurt herself far more than it hurt Ruby. "You're talking much too fast! Explain to me what's going on, but slower." She lets her head rest against the pillows; her hangover visibly coming back with a vengeance.

"Up-up-up!" Ruby scolds. "You're the one hungover, so you're at my kind mercy. I want you to introduce yourself, while I grab you some meds."

The girl nearly gawks in disgust at her, but her head throbs again and it's clear that she can't take much more of this. "Weiss. Weiss Schnee, and I need those damned painkillers."

Ruby pops open the nightstand cupboard; opening the seal for her painkillers and handing the pills over to Weiss. "Ruby Rose. Like the Pixelmon games. Is there anything else I can run for you?"

"Pixelmon...? Other than something to reverse what I've just done, not at the moment. Carry on."

"Carry on?" Ruby huffs. She was being treated like a damned servant. "Anyways, to answer your questions, I'm like this because the medicines I'm on make me really sensitive to heat changes. And this apartment has shitty air conditioning, not to mention the fact that you're literally a space heater."

"A space heater!?" Weiss scoffs, nearly choking on the pills. "Just what is that exactly supposed to mean?"

"It means you're really hot." Ruby replies.

Weiss's cheeks burn sharp red. Ruby takes her time getting there.

"Uh, I meant you felt really hot! I mean you give off a lot of body heat, just ugh! Words!"

"I… got your meaning." Weiss says lowly, not meeting her eyes. Still all flustered red and cute in Yang's oversized flannel.

Ruby shakes her head, trying to get her mind out of the damned gutter. "So yeah. I sweat bad when I don't sleep like…" Ruby gestures to her state of undress, "this. It has to do with the way heat accumulates on my body, even in the middle of winter."

"What sort of medications?" Weiss asks, intrusive.

Not intrusive enough to offend Ruby. "Zoloft. Antidepressants." She admits, mood souring.

For a moment, Weiss frowns, but seemingly not at her. "Oh. I'm-"

"Just don't make a big deal out of it." Ruby sighs, waving her off. "Everyone's on them these days, whatever. What was your last question again?"

Weiss opens her mouth as if to remember, then her cheeks flush back to red. Like a ladybug.

"Oh. No." Ruby mumbles, feeling very self conscious about the fact she was half-naked in front of another half-naked girl. "We didn't…"

"No."

"No." Ruby coughs, fumbling with today's medicines. "So do you need me to call you a Ultra?"

"An Ultra?" Weiss manages, her eyes darting over to the trash can nearby. "It's just… just…"

"Whoa, hey." Ruby rests her hands on her shoulders to try and steady her. "You need any help-?"

Weiss shakes, the oversized flannel threatening to swallow her. "No. I don't need any."

"If you're shaking, then that means-"

"I know what it means you dolt!" Weiss cries, covering her eyes with her blankets. "I'm panicking because I don't have anywhere to go! There, is that the answer you wanted!?"

"You don't…" The cogs in Ruby's brain turn again, remembering the news. "Your dad-"

"My father," Weiss sobs, "because of my little stunt at the university gala he was attending, disowned me from the family and cut me off from all of my bank accounts, my trust funds, and any wealth that I've bought with his money. Beyond the clothes and my purse and the fifty-thousand lien I have on me, I'm virtually penniless."

"Fifty-fucking-slow-mo bills-fuck" Ruby chokes. Fifty-thousand a year would solve so many of her woes right now, but was barely the cutoff for living a middle class life in Vale. Not to mention, from the Schnee's perspective, that must have been pocket change. "Do you… wanna talk about it?"

"Maybe later." Weiss croaks, resting her head down on the pillows again. Silent tears escaping her eyes. "It's all been so much and I feel so disgusting. Do you have any wet rags for me to wipe this… sheen off my mouth?"

"Of course." Ruby coos, dashing into and out of their sole bathroom at breakneck pace. Luckily, Blake hadn't occupied it but she'd detected the smell of microwaved Spicy Herring Curry & Rice platter from Merchant Han's as she passed back and forth between rooms. Blake was up.

Returning to Weiss's side, she gently dabs the wet cloth against her cheeks, embarrassing the girl. "I can… do this myself."

"N-nonsense." Ruby stammers. Something was compelling her to do for Weiss what she'd refused for Yang and Blake before when they'd been hungover. Mostly because Ruby had been hungover right alongside them, but when they were a couple and Ruby wasn't, Ruby had usually been far more preoccupied with herself in recovery. "You're still in pain." She tries for Weiss, her most comforting smile, as Weiss relaxes into the cleansing. "See? Wasn't so hard." Reassuringly, she leans in for a gentle kiss against her now cleaned cheek.

Then she realizes what she'd done. At the very least, Weiss wasn't crying anymore.

"Uh… I…" She wasn't sure who was red more by this point. "I should… get food. You must be hungry." She says, robotically. "We have… uhm some chips I think? Maybe some stuff from Merchant Han's?"

Weiss doesn't even call after her as she dashes out into the kitchen. Into Blake's shit-eating grin.

"Rough night?" Blake smirks as she strides towards her finished instant meal. She-ra was playing in the background; Ruby still needed to finish the first season, her laziness be damned.

"Ugh, not like that Blake!" Ruby groans as she sifts through their cabinet of instant foods.

"Sure Ruby. There's Cod and Ratatouille in the fridge, and I think we have some Cola Queen in our pantry still."

Ruby sticks a tongue out at Blake, settling on instant noodles for herself. "I had a drunk clientele. She threw up on me and I dragged her sorry butt back here."

Blake inserts a pod into the coffee maker. "That explains why you let her sleep in the same bed as you, while you were totally undressed."

Ruby chucks in a pod into the coffee maker. "I was wearing my bra, you butt. And for your information, Weiss was going to be hungover, so she really needed it!"

"Wait." Blake frowns, dropping her fork into her food. "You mean Weiss Schnee? The heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, known for their stranglehold on local Valean politics despite being an Atlas based corporation?"

Oh. Right. Blake was still an activist in her free time for the Justice and Harmony party of Southern Vale in what little free time she had. "Uh… no?" Ruby laughs, grabbing a mug for her coffee.

"Also the same one who called her father the devil at a university speech she was supposed to be giving, shortly before her disownment, and disinheritance from the company." Blake comments without missing a beat.

"Uh… maybe?"

Blake rolls her eyes, flashing a reassuring smile. "Ruby, I'm totally fine with you bringing her here. I'm cool with her… mostly."

"Mostly?" Ruby questions, downing a glass of water along with her medicines.

"Mostly." Blake sighs. "She'll never be free from the privilege of growing up wealthy as a Schnee gave her, but to me it doesn't matter now. It'd just be petty to step on her now."

"I mean, she has fifty-grand in her purse."

"Fifty-fucking-slo-mo bills what?" Blake's ears jump straight up, hands nearly flubbing the instant meal onto the floor. "In her purse. That she was walking with."

Ruby shrugs. "Rich people I guess. It might be all she has to her name now."

"Hey I can hear you two talking about me from out there!" Weiss calls from Ruby's bedroom.

Blake, never one to miss an opportunity to tease, gets up and approaches, just out of Weiss's sight. "Ruby's just talking about last night. She says it was amazing. Best sex she ever had."

Weiss nearly has a stroke in the background; Ruby nearly punches the coffee machine out.

"Blake!"

"Your sister's worn off on me too much." Blake says, plopping her behind back in her seat, eyes firmly back on their last decade desktop monitor converted into a makeshift television. Adora was screaming at Catra. Gods, that show was impossible to watch. She just wanted them to kiss already!

"Wait," Ruby's mind clicks, "you don't mean that in a-"

"Nope." Blake smirks, picking again at her food. "Just your imagination Ruby."

Ruby makes it a point to let out an audibly loud groan, before returning to her room. "Weiss? We have some instant Asian food, some microwave cod and rice, and some instant noodles. Are you fine with any of that?"

Weiss just stares, as if everything she'd just said made absolutely no sense whatsoever. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Food. Is there anything you like?"

"I suppose the… fish?" Weiss says, almost disgusted.

"Suits me. I know what's happened to you's been a lot to take in, but feel free to join us outside for coffee if your head's up to it."

"I… appreciate that." Weiss says, half-present. "May I use your shower first? I'd like to clean up this… mess I woke up in. Not to mention, the quality of your sheets. I'm afraid I'm going to develop several skin rashes after sleeping in your bed."

Before Ruby can protest, Blake chimes in. "Don't worry Weiss, I'm sure your sex hair looks great on you."

"exCUSE ME!?" Weiss shrieks, spilling her water all over Ruby's bed. Even from another room, Ruby could feel Blake's mirth coming off of her in droves.


	2. what if we kissed in a farmer's market

CW: Anti-Faunus Racism, Discussion of Anti-Faunus Racism. Marijuana use, Cigarette use, both underaged. Family abuse, control. Police.

* * *

**Ruby**

"So, the right knob is for the boiling hot water, and the left knob is for the freezing cold water." Ruby's tour of her bathroom meets a mostly unreceptive Weiss, who's too busy trying to capture the essence of disbelief, or disgust on her face. Sure, their bathroom was... barren for the most part, but it wasn't unclean! Probably. "The plumbing here doesn't have any gradients or scaling whatsoever, so you'll either have to just deal with lukewarm water, or boil yourself like I usually do."

"I still don't understand how you endure that." Blake comments, setting down the change of clothes Ruby had requested for Weiss. Their wardrobes consisted of mostly hauls from the local thrift store/swap meets, but she trusted Blake's eclectic, but brooding sense of fashion as opposed to Ruby's goth/grunge aesthetic to suit the ex-heiress a bit more.

"I still don't understand why you almost never take showers." Ruby rolls her eyes.

"And yet I still smell better than you most days." Blake quips, gesturing towards the shampoos. "I think we have two-in one? And that giant purple block is actually soap, but it ended up fusing to the stand so you'll have to rub it on your hand first, then wherever you wanna wash."

"Isn't two-in-one supposed to be bad for your hair?" Weiss meekly, looking at the shower as if it were some mathematical equation holding a gun to her. Resigning herself to her fate.

"Maybe. My hair's still better than yours though." Blake quips, taking her leave.

"That toothbrush over there is mine." Ruby points at the sad red toothbrush in the corner of the shower that looked like the brush end had been shoved in a shredder. "I get all lazy and just brush my teeth in the shower. Oh! And if you see any spiders, don't splash water on them. Seriously, ten more will come out from the middle of nowhere and it is right-fucking fearsome I tell you."

"W-what!?"

"Good luck, stay clean!" Ruby grins, shutting the door. "And there isn't a lock for the door, just saying!" She shouts through the bathroom ventilation shaft. Useful in case one needed to communicate something to whoever was in there, continue a conversation, and in a pinch, provide fresh air for whoever was inside.

"Of course!" Weiss screams back, before Ruby adjusts the vents shut.

Blake was already setting up the family bong at the living table; three couches and sofas (including Blake & Yang's shared sofa-bed) set up around a waist-high coffee table they used for dining, arts, crafts and the likes. With Ruby and Blake's only computer devices being their laptops/chromebooks, they were bound to develop scoliosis some time in the future. Blake's food had already been cleaned up, some bits and pieces of the bong from when Blake last used and disassembled it. A familiar, sharp, earthy herbal scent that was the aromatic equivalent of an earworm clashes with the smell of sodium and cheap instant broth from Ruby's instant noodles.

For Ruby, the breakfast of queens. Instant noodle Ruby didn't know the flavor of because she'd carved up the labeling with a knife out of boredom one day. And some shitty pod coffee with milk and five sugar packets. All complete with her Lintendo Select.

Accompanying this morning's setup, the soothing sounds of Weiss's shrill shrieking. Yet another victim of their hovel's shitty plumbing.

"That happens to everyone Weiss!" Ruby laughs. "Don't feel embarrassed!"

"Piss off!" Weiss manages to get through.

Blake smirks, pressing the pipe to her lips. The familiar flick of a Sippo lighter.

"Blake, it's barely... 12:30. Cripes, I thought it was earlier." Ruby groans as Blake blows out smoke. She was going to have to take a shower after this if she didn't want to smell like weed...

"Yeah. And if I'm going to have to be with a Schnee for the next few hours before I have work, then I'm pretty sure I need this."

Ruby nods. Friday shifts, Blake was excused from happy hour. But that meant that she took the brunt of La Mer's nightlife, servicing drunkard University students celebrating a temporary reprieve from classes. "Fair. Is that the blueberry?" Ruby asks, between mouthfuls of instant noodles.

"Lemon." Another puff of smoke. Blake had a handmade cover for the fire detectors for this very reason; one day their household was going to be the reason this apartment complex burnt down. Ruby's instant noodles are finished all too soon; the taste of sodium, sodium, and more sodium ever so unsatisfying. Still, she had her shitty coffee and dessert; the morning cigarette. Blake hands her the communal Sippo lighter. The aromatheraputics of tobacco and marajuana smoke together were... interesting to say the least.

"You like her, don't you?" Blake asks, hazy eyes on the desktop-television. Catra was being... frustratingly Catra again.

"Blake!" Ruby flusters red, nearly chucking her select at her. "She might be able to hear!? I'm just being a nice person!" Ruby hisses.

"Oh, so that's your strategy." Blake says. "I'm such a nice girl, why won't you sleep-"

"Blaaaake." Ruby groans.

"Ruby, you usually tell drunk uni girls to fuck off into the ocean like the trash they are. With one exception." Blake properly faces Ruby to address her. "When your gaydar goes off."

"Blake! I'm not interested in her in that way. Or anyone right now for that matter." Ruby harrumphs, crossing her arms.

"You are so frustrated." Blake smirks. "I mean, if I'm wrong, then please correct me. But unless you're ace, with is totally valid, you've been keeping this negative energy going for a while Ruby." Blake sighs, pouring herself a glass of milk. "All that bitterness has got to go somewhere, and before long, you'll be subscribing to s/femcels."

"I am not a femcel." Ruby gags, sticks a tongue out at her.

"Ruby. I know the warning signs myself." Blake sighs. "I was one, before meeting you and Yang."

"Blake…" Ruby sighs. She couldn't really contest Blake. It was true she felt some bitterness towards her DOA… love life. Gods, it felt awkward to just even think the words 'love life' out loud. But Ruby had an entire trash can of issues that contributed to the depressive haze she'd been stuck in ever since she'd come out. She'd been expecting things to get better after she became initiated in the queer agenda, not worse.

The pangs of unwarranted jealousy were sharpest whenever spring or summer came, and the student party life that swarmed La Mer and Sainte Elise's streets were at it's apex. That, or whenever Yang was fucking Blake. They never bothered to be quiet even when she was around, and she just, did not know how to feel. She was grossed out by her sister's screams, but also turned on by Blake's moans.

In another world, Ruby Rose might have been the party girl her current self had grown to despise. Maybe she didn't believe it herself, but it stood to reason that with a few changes in her personality here and there, minor changes mind you, then it was a conceivable outcome. Maybe in another world, Ruby was more of a leader, taking charge of the situations she found herself in, and her life. But she was the Ruby Rose of this world. One who's earlier energy and optimism had burnt out into a bubbly cynicism and bitterness, which she channeled into the Chaotic-Femme/True Neutral style and personality she now clung onto today.

"So since you're not interested, I'm assuming you're not affected at all, about the fact that Weiss is totally naked right now. Right underneath the place where you shower, every single day, where you'll be soon if you want to wipe this weed smell off your body. Totally bare, near-boiling hot water dripping down her nude form-"

Ruby's cheeks were burning hot just from the description alone. Gods only knew how pink her cheeks were. "S-shut up!"

"Case in point." Blake grins.

"Ugh, I'm gay Blake! And you're the one who put that… image in me."

"She's gay too, isn't she?" Blake reminds her. "Declared it out and proud for the whole world to know. Weren't you the one who quipped, 'Gay plus Gay equals Lesbians?"

"That was during high school!" Ruby nearly spurts out her coffee.

"I met Yang during high school. And she hasn't turned out bad for me." She sips at her milk. "Yet."

She'd be lying to herself if she felt Blake's tempered realism didn't make her wince from time to time. Blake had been her most consistent friend in… ever, even if they were more circumstantial friends rather than the bestie she craved from all those girl novels she'd read during high school.

"Ruby. All me and Yang want to do is get you out of this rut."

Stars, she'd hate it if she ever lost Blake. She'd known her for… how many years now?

"I don't know Blake." Ruby sighs, flicking the cherry against the ashtray. "I'm sort of used to this by now."

Blake's faunus ears droop, communicating her disappointment in her. Almost as effective as Ruby's own puppy-dog eyes. Almost.

Then a mischevious smirk, one she'd picked up from Yang forms on her face. "I suppose that isn't an outright denial, so I'll take what I can get. How about... let's see if Weiss is a lady of culture." Blake gets up, approaching and adjusting the bathroom ventilation shaft.

She clears her throat, humming out a tender tune, before a sultry voice comes out.

_"The only love my heart approaches…"_

_"Your tender eyes fill mine with roses…"_

The rest of the verse sounds like honeysuckle and cinnamon, Blake humming the rest of the lyrics. Her voice was undeniably, daringly, corruptingly beautiful. Case in point when Blake had asked Yang during dinner to be her proper girlfriend via love ballad.

But another lovely tune joins where Blake's voice falters, just a gentle beat later.

_"Walking like a lonely fool in Prague,"_

_"Singing a love song and the words I wrote,"_

_"I wrote for two…"_

"Holy fucking shit." Ruby mutters. Her voice was akin to a creamy vanilla bean, smooth but light, like the haunting vestiges of caramel and mint. Outright splendidly lovely, obscenely subtle in it's tenor. Like sweet ambrosia to her ears, Ruby was certain Weiss had been a siren in her past life because there was simply no other explanation for how beautiful Weiss's singing voice was rather than supernatural cosmology.

"You fell for her." Blake sighs, after closing the vents and cutting them off from Weiss's voice-

"I-I did not!" Ruby protests. Readjusting her skirt and boyshorts underneath.

"Sure you didn't." Blake grins, returning to her distractions. A pleasant quiet between the two of them allows them to get comfortable, Ruby slouching on Blake's shoulder as Blake enjoys her Spop. "Yang said she'd be coming back soon, by the way." Blake eventually says, between sips of milk. The news is almost enough to get Ruby to misclick and run from the shiny she'd just managed to chain in her Pixelmon game.

"Did they kick her out?" Ruby questions, sipping at her instant coffee to wake her up.

"Wouldn't say. Said she was coming back for good."

"So no more blood money." Ruby jests, her heart not really into it.

"Ruby, she's not killing anyone. None of them are."

"I know, it's just…" Before she can get lost in her train of thought, the bathroom door bellows open. Steam billows out into the hallway, Weiss's skin glowing hot red, a sign that she'd resigned herself to the boiling water.

It reminds Ruby of one of those tacky fashion shows. Only instead of insanely overpriced 'experimental wear' that Blake swore was an excuse to have the models strut in topless, Weiss was wearing their garb. Ruby's garb. A grey tank with some old band she used to really like logo on it, and a pair of some familiar tattered tight jeans.

"You look good." Ruby blurts out quick, looking away in embarrassment.

"It's your clothes." Blake admits, receiving an elbow in the side for her matchmaking.

"What exactly do you use to clean your clothes?" Weiss sniffs at her sleeves, as if it was spreading Ruby's germs on her. She couldn't figure what Weiss could possibly contract from her clothes. Poverty?

"The washing machine down below broke down a while ago." Blake sips at her milk. "That's probably the cleanest set of clothes I could gather."

Weiss nearly tears off her garb in a panic. Ruby wasn't sure she'd be more angered or turned on by the action.

"B-blake!" Ruby scolds, looking away to hide a blush. "She's just having fun with you Weiss. We always wash our clothes. You're wearing clean stuff. Promise."

By the time Ruby had clarified this, Weiss had already thrown off her shirt, revealing her reused white bra underneath.

"Honestly Ruby, I do wish Yang were here." Blake smirks. "I honestly don't know how she keeps coming up with the stuff she does."

"And just what exactly is that supposed to mean!?" Weiss protests, fumbling Ruby's shirt back on. Unfortunately.

"It means you're easy to tease, Ice Queen." Blake drops, without missing a beat.

"Ice Queen!?" Weiss flares red.

"Blake, I thought you were going to be nice to her." Ruby protests, on Weiss's behalf and quite possibly trying to distract herself from what Weiss wearing her clothes was doing to her stomach.

Blake tries dismissing the complaint, but eventually acquiesces once Ruby gave her one of the many 'looks' she had with her sister. Only moderately less effective than it was with Yang, but still useful in a pinch nonetheless. "Alright." Blake sighs, though she at least seemed to be wanting to put some effort into this. Whether it was too early in the noon for that was a factor she couldn't confirm. "My name's Blake. I'm the girlfriend of Ruby's sister, Yang, and even though I do hate your family, I thought it was pretty cool how you dissed your father like that."

Weiss bites back what seems like a protest of muscle memory. "Weiss Schnee. And I suppose… that's a fair judgement."

"Given the Schnee Dust Company's controversial labor forces and questionable business practices, I'd say it's a correct judgement."

Weiss visibly bites the side of her cheek. "Agreed."

"Blake." Ruby tries.

"So you're agreeing with me, against the word of your father?"

"Yes." Weiss gets out, something about the floor catching, demanding her full and undivided attention. "My father has a lot to answer for, given his record with faunus labor."

"And political corruption, and voter exclusion, and the lavish funds he gets from subsidies from Vale's Department of Mineral Resources-"

"Blake. Remember what Yang said about being right all the time?" Ruby finally snaps. Weiss remembers to actually breathe, looking as if she were stuck between countering Blake's points, fusing with the dirty carpet beneath her, or suffocating.

Blake's eyes weren't fire like Yang's, but deathly sharp, and terribly worn for her age. "We're just having a civil discussion-"

"No Blake, you're waving your political dick around." Ruby sighs, recoiling at the foul term. "You're making her uncomfortable. A lot of shit's happened to her recently, and there's no point to any of this. Please. Just drop it."

A tense silence cuts between the three of them, that felt akin to the sound one made when they dragged their fingernails against an old style chalkboard. Weiss, hair still dripping wet, Blake, eyes firmly on the television, Ruby, giving her 'I'm disappointed in you' scowl at Blake.

"If it's any consolation," Weiss takes her second breath, "I won't disagree with any of what you've said."

Blake's lips purse gently, an indication of one of her infamous snap judgements. "I should have bought more of the Indica." Blake breathes, sighing, then switching seats for her sofa-bed. "I need another hit."

"You go do that." Ruby sighs, in relief. "Sorry about Blake. She just… really likes to be right, even when it's super pointless."

"I see." Weiss sighs, as Blake, sprawled out on her sheets, blows more smoke into the living room. Typical rich people demeanor aside, Weiss seemed grateful Ruby had bailed her out. "You said you had fish for me?" Weiss asks.

"Right, right!" Ruby remembers, rushing over to the microwave and just happy to drive the conversation anywhere but here. The food was probably done, but probably needed an extra minute for the ice in the middle of it. "I'm just giving it some extra time to dethaw. Sometimes the middle part is ice cold while the other parts are super hot and it's pretty funky."

"Micro...wave?" Weiss stares, in horror.

"I… can't cook." Ruby laughs, embarrassed. "Well, I can, but I ended up poisoning Blake and Yang once."

"That was fun." Blake groans, sprawled out on her sofa-bed. "Pass me the milk, Weiss?"

"Heh heh…" Ruby tries to laugh it off as Weiss does her a courtesy. Blake doesn't join her.

"Do you know how to cook?" Blake redirects to Weiss.

"Uh, no? My old butler, Klein usually took care of food for me."

"You had a butler!?" Ruby jumps, starry eyed, as Weiss's food finishes in the microwave.

"Yes." Weiss answers, visibly dreading the coming dish. "It didn't feel that special really, it just meant that I didn't have to take care of several simple inconveniences."

"Starving to death is just an inconvenience?" Blake scoffs, though in jest. Ruby serves Weiss up her microwave Cod, Rice, & Ratatouille, ingredients fresh from the frozen foods aisle at Merchant Han's. All served in a lovely cardboard box. "No harm meant Weiss, none of us know how to cook either."

"You need a drink?" Ruby asks, pointing torwards their fridge. "We've got... Queen Cola, milk, some Jager, and maybe some vodka?"

"I… am not eating this." She pushes away the cardboard bowl, utterly repulsed by the offerings.

"Sorry princess." Blake sips on her coffee. "We don't exactly have gold shavings to offer in this house."

Weiss groans, as though she's about to run a migraine. "How about this? As thanks for taking care of me while I was inebriated, I'll gladly treat the three of you to…" She checks her phone, "brunch?"

Blake's ears straighten. "If you're paying, sure. Ruby?"

"CAN WE GO TO WANDERER?" Ruby squeals, starry eyed and glomping Weiss, hanging off her the poor girl's shoulders.

"For the love of the gods, calm down!" Weiss shrieks, terrified by the sudden wind of energy before her.

"IT'S A BAKERY IN LE BIJOU! THEY'VE GOT EVERYTHING, PASTRIES, CROISSANTS, GALETTES, TARTS, THE SHIZ!"

"If you let go of me then yes!" Weiss screams back, Ruby flailing her around like a lifeless ragdoll. Unfortunately, this sparks Ruby into hugging her tighter.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you-!"

Privy to the scene before her, Blake rests a comforting hand on the terrified ex-heiress's shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, this is the happiest I've seen Ruby in a long while."

"PLEASE HELP ME!"

* * *

**Ruby**

Wanderer had been forced to close down for the day, according to local gossip, from the head baker having a fit over the cashier messing around with his husband. So they'd called another Ultra (after explaining again to Weiss how Ultra worked) to take them down to North Point, the yuppie hub of Sainte Elise province. North Point was a strange little collection of coffee shops, craft-beer pubs, and upscale restaurants planted right next to the old industrial base of Sainte Elise. Yuppies, hipsters, and students right alongside bitter old retirees stuck in their old neighborhoods because they didn't have the money to leave.

Weiss had been like a tourist the entire ride through. As much as she tried to hide it, every time a street performance or an upscale tavern passed her by, it was impossible not to notice the emotions she wore on her face. The emotions she visibly wasn't used to wearing on her face. Surprise, wonder, amazement, overwhelmed. If Ruby and Blake's cynicism towards life didn't stem from having to deal with tourists performing almost perfect renditions of 'annoying gullible sightseer with disposable income', then it might have been cute.

Also making Weiss's act hard to ignore was her habit of taking Ruby's hand, grabbing Ruby's attention whenever she saw something interesting, while Ruby was desperately trying to nap.

"Ruby, we're here." She hears a voice mumble just as she's drifting off into sleep.

"Juz aggogo…" Ruby drools, so close to the promised dreamscape. Her denim jacket kept her so warm in the winter cold; she'd settled on black tights, a flannel skirt, another ratty music top, with a sleeve-length around her waist. Topped off with a mildly torn denim jacket she'd filched for free at a clothing drive, and a choker that was likely the most expensive piece on her. Weiss had taken one of Ruby's flannels, atop her already 100% Ruby outfit. She'd spent the entire trip trying not to blush at Weiss, as a result.

"Ruby, time to wake up." Something takes her arm, shaking her. Softly.

She was against something soft, but a tad cold, that smelt of faint jasmine tea and... two-in one shampoo and conditioner? "I know thatsh a stadium Weiss…"

"Can… one of you get her out of here quickly before she drools all over my seats?" An unfamiliar voice complains.

"Ruby!" Blake snaps her fingers, Ruby throwing her body back in response. Pushing into Weiss's body. Her soft body.

"GAH!" Ruby flails around, trying to grasp onto something to cling onto for dear life.

"Y-YOU DOLT!" Weiss shrieks. She was getting quite used to that sound really.

One episode of pained headaches and teary accusations of harm later, and the trio had found themselves at a busied diner; the North Point Breakfast Union, without having caused too much of a public spectacle. Depending on how one defined it. Unfortunately for them, their destination was crowded beyond belief, currently besieged by the brunch/lunch wave of students, office workers on lunch breaks, and foodies too poor to afford rich people like them. At least, like her and Blake.

Luckily for them, the time needed to recover from Weiss and Ruby's little debacle was exactly the amount of time they needed to wait for a table. Silver linings in everything, Ruby figured.

"I seriously am about to fall asleep again." Ruby mumbles, once they were seated at their booth; a rusty, antiquated little diner that probably would draw hipsters to the joint like flies if there weren''t ten identical establishments on the same city block. No, in spite of how uncomfortable Weiss seemed from their decor, they were here for the food, and the middling prices. Even if the restaurant had a fancy saltshaker Ruby just had to tinker with. "What's that term for dying from lack of sleep?"

"It's not actually confirmed you can actually die from sleep deprivation, you know." Weiss corrects.

Blake rolls her bloodshot eyes. "Seriously Ruby, I'm still pretty high, and I can function better than you are right now."

"Ugh, because you're a monster who doesn't need that much sleep!" Ruby frowns, rubbing her poor forehead.

"On the contrary, I do. I just can control my symptoms a bit easier."

"Mmh, wouldn't it be nicer though to not have symptoms to control?" Ruby cracks her a half-awake grin.

Blake nods, resting her head against the table's surface. "Can't argue against that." She mumbles.

"What exactly is wrong with your sleep schedules?" Weiss questions, eyes lost in the menu choices. "Can't the two of you just, sleep?"

Blake and Ruby give each other a look. "Tell my manager that, Weiss." Blake sighs. "Honestly, if you did before you were disowned, you could theoretically could have fixed my sleep schedule."

"Try telling my insomnia that." Ruby pouts.

"Well, I understand insomnia but why not just talk to your manager?" Weiss questions. "I'm sure they'd be perfectly understanding of your situation!"

At this, Blake and Ruby struggle not to laugh. "Seriously Weiss? You're literally sheltered as all hell."

Weiss opens her mouth, likely to raise a complaint, but falters, sulking and nodding in agreement. "I… suppose I am."

Blake blinks in surprise, presumably from Weiss's admission. "I'm… guessing it's not entirely your fault?"

Weiss looked conflicted. As if one part of her was desperately struggling against the other. It reminds Ruby of a general experience familiar with anybody who... socialized; when they were in new circumstances, and were trying not to react with just their gut, and open themselves to new experiences. Weiss slowly lets out a breath, and starts. "My father controlled every aspect of my life since the day I'd been born. Everything I'd done was supposed to be according to his little plan. Where I went, who I talked to, who I associated with. My first semester at University was supposed finish my education as his successor, but I supposed something inside me snapped when I realized he didn't have as much control over me attending university then he did when I was still in university."

Weiss sighs, sipping at her water. "One night, father had arranged for me to meet another boy for me to talk to, this time hailing from an Aristocratic Mistralian family. I was meant to give a speech in front of him at the University's Winter Commencement, and I suppose I just… snapped."

"You didn't snap." Weiss, who'd been staring at the menu as if waiting for her to be mocked, looks up at Blake's words. "You stood up for yourself in the only way you knew how to. Sure you embarrassed yourself on national television and you lost nearly everything you owned, but you're free now."

Weiss scowls in disapproval. "He never even allowed me to make friends. I don't… I don't have anyone to support me in this time."

"If you want my opinion," Blake starts, unsteady "what you did was really fucking cool. Sure there's some shit that'll always stick to you. But I've done some shit that'll always stick to me. And... Yang;s trying to help me past that. And if she can help me with that, then I guess... no, I know that you can improve yourself. That you'll find friends, like... Ruby."

Weiss was outright still right now. Like she didn't know what to say. As if she'd never been in a situation like this her entire life, and didn't have the tools to properly react. "Thank you Blake, but I... I'm not sure how to do that."

Ruby nearly opens her mouth in disagreement, but the truth was, she couldn't lie. Because the truth was, support, real support was so hard to come by. Ruby had only managed Blake because she was her sister's girlfriend. Their relationship really was a necessity by simple association; beyond that, Ruby never really found a group of friends willing to support her out of the hole she'd dug herself. Willing to, in other people's words, 'hold her head up high when she was hungover in the bathroom.'

Ruby for most of her life, had been a social pariah mostly of no fault of her own, and quite frankly, she could see Weiss falling down the same road. It made her eyes burn, thinking about it.

"Ruby, is there anything wrong?" Weiss asks, tugging on Ruby's flannel. The waitress had come over, waiting to take their orders.

Ruby flushes red. "No! Nothing at all! Uh, the Churro French Toast please?"

She tries, tries so desperately not to think about it, even as the banter between Blake and Weiss slowly thaws. After all, in a few, Weiss would be gone from her life anyways, so why spend her emotional energy needlessly getting hung up over it?

* * *

**Ruby**

"My body's so out of shape Weiss…" Ruby groans, still having not recovered from the feast of diner food also last night. "I'm dying. Send aid please."

Brunch had been an arduous, if also delicious affair. Blake had been served the Potato Rosti, topped with house cured salmon, herb cream cheese, and two poached eggs (that she described as "fucking delish") Weiss, utterly confused by the menu, ended up ordering crème brûlée, which ended up getting her the Crème Brûlée French Toast, which was just French Toast served with pastry cream and berries.

"You've never had french toast before!?" Ruby slams her fists on the table, words muffled by her own french toast in her mouth. Attracting the attention of nearly other table and waiting staff present.

"N-no! I've never been served something so… crude!"

Blake smacks her fingers. "Weiss, you do realize they're serving us, right?"

Weiss looks around, as if to confirm that yes, there were still actual people around her. "Yes? That much is obvious."

Blake rolls her eyes. "Some day Weiss, you're going to end up with spit in your food."

"And if I did, I would…" Weiss frowns, realizing her recent loss of financial power. "Huh. I… suppose you have a point. And I suppose… I'll try this dish, as crude as it may appear, AT FIRST GLANCE!" Weiss screams out the last part, hoping to reassure their servers.

Weiss's dish was quickly shared between her and Ruby, once the ex-heiress found herself demanding more and more of Le Pain Perdu. Ruby's Churro French Toast was served with buttermilk ice cream, cinnamon sugar, and cajeta, and the trio found themselves served with the remainder of Point North Breakfast Union's french toast dishes.

"Ruby, that's my food!" Weiss protests, as Ruby nabs yet another piece from Weiss's plate.

"Quit being childish Weiss." Blake smirks, joining Ruby in pilfering Weiss's crème brûlée. "We usually share food if it's actually pretty decent. Here." As a gesture, she offers her the half-eaten Potato Rosti.

"That has your spit in it!" Weiss gawks. She'd ended up eating her fair portion anyways, describing it as scalloped creamy goodness.

"Quit acting childish." Weiss scolds, literally dragging Ruby in tow. Blake had taken her leave, needing to head off to work on a seperate Ultra, paid for by Weiss who compensated her in paper cash.

Ruby sticks a tongue out at her. It was… weird. She'd thought this side of her had died out so long ago.

"This hotel you two recommended me should be coming up soon, is it not?" Weiss asks. "Then it'll only be a block or two more of walking, so suck it up."

"How are you not in a food coma?" Ruby protests, trying not to think too hard about the fact her little day off was coming to an end. And Ruby had planned to be out working today! Friday hauls were usually the hottest night of the weekend. "Seriously Weiss, you're not that much bigger than me."

Weiss rolls her eyes. "Oh quiet you. Your body is quite attractive as well. You're not out of shape at all, appearance wise. Though how you feel and function on a day to day basis is far more important-"

If there was an entire class loaded up in Weiss's brain regarding health, Ruby had tuned off already.

Her body really wasn't that pretty, when one really came too it. Not enough curves in the right places, a bust that straddled between flat-chested and voluptuous. Not flat enough to be cute, not curvy enough to be attractive. That was Ruby's entire body in a nutshell. The wrong angles in the wrong places, too much fat in certain areas. There was always something to scrutinize, even if she felt well for the day.

"Ruby? Is there something wrong?"

Ruby tilts her head, disoriented from having been yanked out of her vicious thoughts. "No?"

"You look sad. I said you were pretty after all. Do you not believe it?"

_**'No.'**_

"I don't usually get told that unless it's from family." 'And if I do, they'd just take it back sooner or later-'

Weiss scoffs, almost offended her word had been doubted. "I may be disowned, but I am still a Schnee. And a Schnee always means what they say. And I believe, that your hair is wonderfully done, especially your red tips on the end there. Which is quite an amazing feat given your outrageously terrible shampoo and conditioner. Your eyes have an emotional range between being thoughtfully distant, and wonderfully excited and they are very easy to get lost in. Not to mention your body. Remember that I've seen you in your underwear before, and you are from an objective standpoint, attractive to today's standards." Weiss's cheeks grow noticeably pinker, and her voice starts to struggle at some of the words. "So I want you to remember this, because I don't want to repeat myself saying it again. Is that clear, Ruby?"

Ruby was speechless. Beyond her sister, noone had ever talked about her in that way before, or ever. And until now, she never knew how much she'd been craving this sort of validation, this sort of assurance from someone who hadn't been obligated to, like Blake or Yang. No, Weiss was Weiss, and though she was also a lot of things, she meant her words when she was serious. She felt her eyes burn.

"R-ruby? I didn't mean to say anything offending, at least I don't think I said anything offending, was it something I said?"

Weiss was trying so hard. Oscillating between her typical Schnee demeanor, and her more uncertain, yet softer side.

"I think you're beautiful too." Ruby chokes out, waving off Weiss's concerns about her demeanor. This time, she hadn't felt embarrassed when she'd said it (though Weiss certainly did). It felt something akin to a quid pro quo; a compliment for a compliment. The purpose of the exchange, neither knew really.

The next couple of blocks would fly by, the biting cold of wintertime distracting Ruby of their impending separation. She wonders whether Weiss is thinking the same thing too, when she notices her excitement around the daily trials and tribulations of urban city life wavering.

"Well, we're here." Ruby attempts to gesture a 'ta-da,' towards the perfectly serviceable Superior Southern hotel. Maybe not to the caliber Weiss was usually used to, but given it's usual middle-class tourist clientele, she figured it wouldn't be too much of a culture shock for the rich girl to get used to.

"You think you'll be alright in there?" Ruby coughs. When Weiss doesn't look back at her, it was if a dagger had been lodged in her throat. Fuck goodbyes, fuck propriety. She knew what this was.

Weiss scoffs, her eyes failing to meet hers. "Of course. I'm an adult, sheltered though as I may be. And I'm sure I shouldn't take any more of your time, you must be busy with things to do."

_**'Watch the newest season of Spop? Get high? Touch myself while browsing for fanfics?'**_

"Yeah." Ruby scoffs, cold air almost biting her for her lie. "I figured."

"You'll need to call the Ultra to get home, right?" Weiss muses, digging into her purse. "That'll likely be another twenty-"

"It's fine." Ruby says, cold. "I'll probably just take the trolley home anyways."

"What's a trolley?" Weiss questions.

_**'She's so cute when she's absolutely clueless about how commoners like me live.'**_

"Public transportation. Like a train." She stretches her back, a loud crack coming from the air bubbles in her spine.

_**'Shit! You left her portrait at home! You absolute fucking idiot, she's gonna yell at you for this-!'**_

Weiss winces at the sound. Finally meeting her eyes. And she wonders if Weiss's eyes were always burning like this. If they'd ever burned before meeting her. "Then can I still give you a hug?"

_**'You're not that important. You've known her for one day Ruby Rose. Quit overestimating your importance.'**_

"S-sure." Ruby mumbles, afraid she'd realize she owed her one portrait, and start yelling at her about how much of a dolt she was. How much of a fucking idiot she was, how awkward she'd been, how poor she'd been, just everything. She settles for not telling her about it, and hoping it'd fly right past her.

Their hug is awkward for the most part. Weiss's body is so cold, but Ruby knows she's warm in there somewhere. All Ruby needed to do was slip her fingers past her clothes to find it, and this was really a line of thought she should drop now.

_**'You're not going to ask for her number? Take responsibility and tell her about how you fucked up and left her portrait at home?'**_

"You're warm." Is all Ruby manages to mumble.

Weiss giggles, and it's a sound that has Ruby's heart nearly diagnose itself as arrhythmic. "You're warm too."

_**'Her lips are so close to mine.'**_

_**'My cheek is nuzzling hers.'**_

_**'It's been so long since you've touched somebody who wasn't Yang or Blake.'**_

_**'How long?'**_

They break off the embrace, leaving Ruby's body missing her touch already. "I'd better go." Ruby blurts out. "Take care of the… stuff."

She could ask for her number. If her phone still worked, that is. "Please stay safe." Weiss says.

"I should be saying that about you, Weiss."

'Good. You didn't ask for her number. You know you'd mess it up anyways. Your personalities would never work out. Your personality would never work out with anybody, would it? Not to mention your body.'

Trying not to cry in front of her, Ruby takes off, coldly. Weiss maybe calls after her; she doesn't care. Doesn't know why she's feeling like this. Doesn't know why she's caught feelings for a girl she's never kissed and who threw up all over her.

_**'I'd love to take yours, anyone's lips into mine. Figure out what a kiss feels like. Figure out what it feels like to have someone's hands on my body, fingers just right above my skin. Teasing me. Making me squeal like I'm theirs.'**_

She spots a little alleyway near the hotel, cold but isolated from the outside world. Fuck Sainte Elise's anti-smoking laws, she needed a something, anything.

It's muscle memory now; the cigarettes, the lighter, everything. But her nerves don't relax from the hot smoke choking her lungs.

"Fuck." Ruby groans. Fuck Blake's sativa, that shit would just get her worse.

The hot smoke and the cold winter air snaps her back to reality, but damn it, wouldn't drag her out of her trainwreck of thought. She flicks her cherry; the smoke in her mouth a bitter aftertaste.

_**'She didn't ask for your number. That means she wasn't interested. If you had asked, then you'd just be forcing yourself on a girl who wasn't interested-**_

"Ruby?"

A trainwreck. It was like she'd been a miracle survivor of an absolute nightmare of a trainwreck, and Weiss was the first to find her, to pull her back into the present. "Weiss?" She whimpers. That little picture of them kissing still inside her head. "You came back?"

Weiss's eyes were wet, from crying. Ruby knew she was close as well.

"You okay?"

'You hurt her. You just left her without an explanation.'

"I-I don't, t-they won't accept my money…"

Weiss collapses in her arms. Her body felt so fragile, and Ruby felt something burn inside of her.

"Why?" Ruby says, cold as the winter air.

"T-they don't accept cash anymore… none of the hotels in Vale do! Ruby, I don't know what to do! Everything's so overwhelming, and I've never had to do any of this before in my life! I felt like the receptionist was about to claw my eyes out from me just asking questions! I don't know where to go now that I'm homeless and I don't know how to get a job or how to apply for housing or how to take loans or how to-"

She holds Weiss even tighter in her arms, her body felt close to snapping. She didn't know what to say. Who knew what to say in these sorts of situations? She and Weiss were the same right? It might have been (probably was) her projecting herself onto others, but she and Weiss were sort of two sides of the same coin. Too fucked up for people to know what to do with people like her. Too awkward and boring for people to know what to say to her. And now she was equating her problems with Weiss's. Gods she was a fucking idiot.

"I'm sorry…" Ruby breaths, tears starting to fall down her cheeks.

"It's true isn't it?" Weiss sobs. "The receptionist… do you know what he said? When my credit card was denied, and he told me that they wouldn't accept cash, he laughed at me. Told me that a stuck up snob bitch like me deserved what happened to me on the news because of my family name. That I could just sell my clothes off and probably live the rest of my life off the proceeds alone."

"That's terrible…"

"It's true isn't it? I'm just some stuck up princess who's never spent a day out in the real world. Now I'm about to end up homeless underneath a bridge and it's all my fault!"

"Weiss…" Ruby coos, gently patting her back, "none of this is your fault."

"Blake hates me! Everyone hates me!"

"Blake doesn't hate you... I think she hates herself way more than she could ever hate you, Weiss."

"I hated my father for so long…"

"When I was thirteen, I told my dad I wished he would die before he went out surfing and I never saw him again."

"I once burned the hands of a waitress when I threw my dish at her because I hated the soup…"

"I once let some chemicals explode in my science lab partner's face because I hated her."

"When I was fifteen, I had my old butler, Serath, blacklisted from the butler's association because he made my donuts wrong."

"When I was in High School, I got my doctor to write that I had HIV to get out of swimming during P.E."

"W-why are you telling me all of this?" Weiss sobs into Ruby's shoulder.

"Because I think it helps to know you're not alone. Yeah Weiss, from what I've heard of you, you're rich, snobby, and not the sharpest tool in the shed. But neither am I, and I've done some pretty shitty things to other people before."

"But you're so-"

"Nice?" Ruby scoffs, grinning against Weiss's shoulder. "I'm super depressed because of a lot of shit that's happened in my life and it's led to me doing things when I was younger I wish I could take back. Trust me Weiss, when I say that you are not your father, no matter how much you try to blame yourself. Because I still blame myself for the fact that my dad's gone sometimes."

"Your father…"

"Yeah." Ruby sighs. "My family's had a bad run of it. Mom died in a car accident when I was too little to remember. My dad when I was thirteen." Her nose is disgustingly caked in snot now. "We're a mess."

"W-why are you being so nice to me then?"

"Because…"

_**'Because you're really cute.'**_

"Because I don't like letting beautiful girls like you cry alone." Ruby blurts out, really wishing she had a mini conscience in her mind that would slap her silly if she ever tried saying corny shit like that.

"It reminds me of me!" Ruby adds, as if that would exempt her from the consequences of her cringe.

At this, Weiss manages a chuckle. "That's the third time you've told me that."

'Because it's true.' "Uhhhhhh because artist's eye you know, I've spent a lot of time looking at pretty girls and cute girls, really all girls are beautiful and you're not special, not to say you aren't beautiful-!" Ruby stammers, her hands at what must look to spectators, flailing around trying to describe her gay thought process.

"You truly are a dolt…" Weiss mumbles through her tears. Their embrace has been remarkably one-sided so far, but now, Weiss finally returns Ruby's hug in kind. Their embrace lasted far longer than Ruby had thought herself comfortable with, but for Weiss? She'd let the girl soak her flannel through with her tears if she needed it. Coaxing whatever needed to come out from Weiss, if she still had any tears left to spill (and she had many). Whispering sweet assurances in her ear whenever she needed them.

Stars, Blake was right. She'd fallen for the girl who'd thrown up on her boots.

"Thank you." Weiss manages, long after her eyes dry up. Still holding her, Weiss felt considerably lighter in her arms. As if she'd been carrying a weight on her her entire life. "B-but I still don't know what to do now. None of the hotels in Vale will take cash, and my credit-"

"Don't worry about that now. You can stay over at my place until we get things figured out, okay? I wanna help you, and I really don't want you to feel guilty about it."

"Thank you so much." Weiss breathes, wanting to say more, but looking lost as to how to say it. Ruby didn't need words; keeping Weiss off the streets was enough of a reward itself. "I don't deserve any of this…"

"And I didn't deserve my big sister in my life, but I guess I'm stuck with her, like you're stuck with me amiga." Ruby flashes her a smile. "I've got you. Now, do you wanna head back to my place? Maybe figure out a plan for you to get off the streets permanently?"

"That… sounds like a plan." Ruby, though reluctant, slowly coaxes Weiss out of the hug, hand in hand. The flannel Weiss had on her fit her so well; thick and wooly, keeping her warm. They hadn't known how much time had passed since their brunch, but the chilly Vale skies were finally turning an orange hue.

Weiss's hand was so warm in hers. Weiss's hand was so, so warm in hers, and she wonders if her own was just as warm too.

* * *

**Ruby**

"HELLO NORTH POINT FARMER'S MARKET! I'M YOUR HOST, NORA VALKYRIE, AND FOR THE TOURISTS IN THE CROWD, LET'S GIVE YOU ALL A WARM WELCOME!"

However the girl managed a voice that managed to project across an entire city block without a speaker system, was one of life's many mysteries.

Honestly, Ruby hadn't planned to end up with Weiss at North Point's weekly Farmer's Market. They were in the midst of discussing their transportation plan home (Weiss had suggested another Ultra, while Ruby had suggested public transportation to save money,) when the pair was nearly swept up by a crowd of yuppies and tourists.

Somehow, their path, in spite of Ruby's assurances, had tapered off into a city block sectioned off from the remainder of the local area, made into a pedestrian walkway through iron gates barring all access to the road from vehicular traffic. Tents and booths had been set up alongside the roads, a lively commerce of exotic tourist trinkets and fresh produce sold by the bulk. Amateur restaurateurs presenting their dishes as 'authentic', to possibly unknowing foodies, sampling each dish available. And in the center, a stage suiting a live music band.

"FOR OUR FIRST EVENT TONIGHT, WE HAVE-" Nora staggers, as her eyes, manage to zero in on the duo in the crowd. Honestly, it was if Nora had a sixth sense for seeking out friends. "Oh! Hey! Aren't you Yang's little sister, Ruby!?" She waves, completely changing tracks.

"Ruby? Who is that?" Weiss whispers, as the crowd's attention turns on them. Alongside the TV news coverage.

"I think one of my sister's friends!? I've only seen her like once before!"

Nora quickly realizes the situation, mouthing a quick apology, and waving to the cameras. "APOLOGIES EVERYONE TECHNICAL ISSUES. ANYWAY, WE'LL BE MOVING ON TO A FREE GIVEAWAY-"

That got the crowd's attention off of them, letting them blend in with the masses.

"That," Ruby sighs once they were away from Nora's stage, "I have absolutely no clue what the fuck just happened there. Honestly. No clue, all I know is that she's one of my sister's friends who just happened to see me once, and then that happened."

"Her personality is... quite a force to be reckoned with." Weiss observes, as Nora partakes as in tonight's games as the lead host. Right now she was some sort of spinning-wheel game that mostly gave out free tickets to events in Sainte Elise county. All she needed was to be in the pocket of the Schnees, and she'd be a perfect TV game show host.

"So Ruby... what exactly is a farmer's market?" Weiss asks, waving off an attendant offering free samples of... something.

"Uh..." Ruby racks her brain for answers, Weiss stares gobsmacked by the sight of street food (Ruby had no words for what they were looking at other than a metric fuckton of eggs). "It's like… a fair? Or a festival but where they just sell fresh produce straight from the farm. Or at least, that's what they say. They also sell some fancy foods here as well, but I wasn't expecting it to be this big."

"Alright everyone!" Nora's voice was coming in through speakerphone now. Even the likely descendant of opera singers had her limits. "Remember that all of you can suggest your own events at Vusi dot com! You hear that loud and clear! Then good, because we'll be curating the options this time! Seriously, as hot as it sounds, we can't host a Wet-tshirt contest! There are actual kids here, and-Mmmph!" Someone had likely muffled Nora to get her back on track.

"How so?" Weiss asks, in regard to Ruby.

That wet-tshirt debacle they could thank courtesy to Yang, who was first to write it in online. "Huh?" Ruby snickers. "Oh, usually farmer's markets are more... low-key? Calm? This is sort of like a mini-festival, with Nora up there and all these performers."

Par example, a scantily clad lady-magician performing the classic 'Escape From the Water Tank' magic trick.

"R-ruby! She's about to drown!" Weiss panics, forgetting how to breathe. Though she wasn't exactly sure what had taken her breath; the fact that the magician was seemingly about to drown, or the fact that her monokini left her thighs perfectly bare.

"Uh, yeah, don't worry Weiss." Ruby mutters, focusing on the fact that she'd kept her arm interlinked with Weiss's since they'd gotten swallowed up by the fair. "She'll be fine."

"But she'll drown!" Weiss protests. Like the ring of children gathered around front, Weiss ooohs and ahhhs at every stage of the magician's performance, before erupting into teary-eyed elation at the success of her performance.

"Ruby, did you see that! That lady is absolutely talented, being able to survive quite the scenario! I've never seen such a daring escape from a predetermined set of circumstances which might raise the question of whether or not her performance was rigged but still to the untrained eye it was amazing!"

**_'If I'm your dolt, you'd be my dork. Sometimes.'_**

A sharp, cutting noise drags her away from Weiss's cute display; the gravelly static of a walkie talkie. The stamping of rubber-toed boots down on the asphalt beneath them. "Oi there. You're Weiss Schnee, aren't you?"

Weiss is quick to answer, too quick for her other sensibilities can catch up. "Yes, what's it to you-"

Police. Clad in all black, with only his black hair, beard stubble, and monkey faunus features differentiating him from the usual patrol beat. Calling to attention was his weapons at his side; a police baton and a handgun that might gave won them an unwanted string of admiring questions from Ruby had it not been for the uniform wielding them.

"Your daddy's issued a warrant for you to be returned home, Miss Schnee. Come with me, and the SEPD will see that you're treated respectfully."

"R-ruby." Weiss whimpers, arm tugging against her's.

"If you need to see my identification miss, then I assure you, we can provide it-"

If Ruby hadn't been white-passing, there was absolutely no way she could have pulled this off. "Weiss doesn't need to be dragged back home! She's an adult now, and you can't just do this to her!"

At this, the officer present sighs. "True. But she's a Schnee. And this is a Schnee's world. And the no-fanged police chief would have my head if I reported that I saw you on my beat, and didn't bring you in."

"Then don't report her." Ruby pleads.

The officer scoffs. "And miss out on that big fat bonus for me and my precinct? Come on, let's just do this quietly so you can see your daddy again and me and my friendscan look good in the reports. I'm just doing my job-"

"Then why don't you do your job elsewhere and fuck off!?" Ruby spits back at him. Accomplishing the effect opposite of what she'd wanted; a crowd seemed to be gathering.

At this, the officer's demeanor, once pleasant, turns into a nasty scowl. "Is that a threat there?"

Ruby swallows. Desperately mulling her options.

"Get lost, or I'll write you up for obstruction of justice, and making threats against a standing police officer. On top of marajuana use, kid. What are you, fifteen? Get lost, and make everyone's day easier."

"Touch her," Weiss snarls, "and I'll have your head reduced to a bloody pulp, you animal!" Hands immediately clamp her mouth shut, the words leaving behind a disgusting taste in her mouth. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't want to insinuate,"

"Whoa!" Nora's voice booms, about twenty decibels louder than before. "Another free car!? It's like I'm fucking Woprah here! Am I allowed to say that? No? Cut that! Cut that!"

The crowd erupts with energy, and the changing flow of the humanoid masses gives Ruby a window. A window that she uses to smash her steel toed boots straight up the officer's legs."Bye bitch!" Ruby spits at him, taking Weiss by the arm, into the crowd to disappear. She glances over at Nora, still onstage, who shoots her a quick wink of acknowledgement.

"R-ruby! Where do we go!?" Weiss cries out in the midst of the rush.

"T-the trolley! It's a block away, hurry!"

And they run. Plowing through the crowd moving in the direction opposite to them, nearly tripping over and getting trampled in the process. But they manage to escape from the trap that was North Point's weekly farmer's market, though the city surrounding them provides little respite from the clutches of the Sainte Elise Police Department. Midway to the trolley station however, a most fortuitous moment of fortune manifests itself for the couple; an endangered species in twenty-third century Vale pulls up right next to their curb. A fucking taxi.

"G-get in!" Weiss orders, dragging the speed demon off her legs and into the vehicle. From her purse, she produces a fat wad of cash, and produces it for their newly recruited blue-haired cab river. "La Mer! Just drive in that general direction, Ruby will provide you with the address later! Just get us there fast, and I'll let you keep the tip!"

"Well then, I'm just assuming this is one of those 'ask no questions,' rides then." Their driver smirks, quickly pulling out of the drop-off lane. "Won't be able to pull anything fancy while we're in the city, but I'll get you there faster than the blood can leave your pale pretty little face. Seriously, you're looking blue there, need some water?"

"Gah, we're gay!" Ruby blurts out in a fit of jealousy, having been tossed into the taxi like a wet paper towel.

The taxi driver sighs. "Figures. At least I'll get a nice tip out of this. Now watch. The name's Neptune, and you're about to see how I took third place in the Hanwon Grand Prix!"

"Third place!?" Ruby glows, as she struggles to buckle her seat belt.

"Yep." Neptune grins, as they blast through a right turn on a red light. "Hanwon's a... pretty tiny province of Mistral." He admits, swerving into the next lane. "Not that many contestants, so not that amazing." He laughs.

"Lovely." Weiss sighs, as they exit onto the freeway, taxi accelerating at breakneck pace. Leaving downtown Sainte Elise behind. Leaning on Ruby's side, exhausted, who reciprocates in kind. "A comedian for a cab driver."


	3. wanna make out? (NSFW)

Warning: Whiterose Lewds (Handjobs, Mutual Masturbation)  
Bodily Dysphoria, Transphobia Discussions, Anti-Faunus Racism Discussion

* * *

_**Ruby**_

To be quite honest, all she wanted at this point was a shower. Rocking her head side to side, wincing as the air bubbles lodged inside her bones cracked. The gaydar was going too far. All she wanted to do was dip her head underneath some scalding hot water, let the heat slowly melt away all her sapphic woes, and forget the fact that she'd decided to take in the currently wanted ex-heiress of one of the largest mining conglomerates of Remnant.

Blake wasn't back yet from work; the poor faunus was stuck at the boardwalk bar for a couple more hours, likely running an edible or two to deal with the thronging headache that her usual 'party-life' clientele gave her. Leaving her alone with Weiss for the next couple of hours.

"You want anything Weiss? I can get us a pizza… maybe." The last time they'd ordered from Blackwater Pizzeria, Blake ended up unwillingly flashing the pizza girl when Yang yanked at her towel; so they were probably still blacklisted.

"What's a pizza?" Weiss asks, her voice terribly soft. Fuck the silence, she needed white noise to deal .

"Fucking gods." Ruby whispers under her breath. Clueless noble Weiss who needed a tour guide to show her around the ways of the peasantry did things to Ruby that would get Weiss to crumple in embarrassment if she ever knew. "You're not a vegetarian or anything like that Weiss?" Ruby flashes her an unsteady grin.

"No. Nothing of that sort." Weiss fumbles with some of the junk left roughshod across Ruby's workdesk; mostly drawings and letters she should have trashed months ago, but Weiss managed to stumble on the one piece that made Ruby want to jump in front of Neptune's taxi.

Flicks is turned on, and she settles for some weird sci-fi series that had a lot of naked women and little else. It buzzes back into the background; everything else does after a certain point save for the client she's brought home. Despite their… rocky start to their professional relationship, she couldn't deny it anymore. The way her heart sings whenever she deigns to look at her. The way she melts into any touch they might share. She'd caught feelings for the girl who'd thrown up over her boots, and hadn't even known her for a day.

"Ruby?" Weiss whispers. "Are you okay?"

What was she supposed to say? 'I'm really gay and horny and want to kiss you?' She'd feel like… a predator if she did that, and just thinking that scenario made her stomach upset.

"Just thinking about which Pizza place I'm about to order from." Ruby sings, voice terribly unsteady. Their lips were so close; one foul cliche, and she'd trip and fall perfectly into her.

Weiss's eyes were glossy. Almost wet, and close to bursting. "Ruby, I'm… I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have… I should have never said that!"

She collapses in her arms. "Whoa, whoa hey there… you didn't do anything wrong."

"I did." Weiss sobs wretchedly, soaking Ruby's denim for the second time this afternoon. "I called that faunus an animal, Ruby!"

The memory flashes back in her mind. "Oh, that. Weiss, you-"

"Don't give me any spiel about how I didn't do anything wrong! Because I did! I called him a derogatory term that he and his kind didn't deserve!" Weiss's eyes had turned into a fire through her sobs, her tears. So unlike her tears shed because of her father, her parentage. "The only one who deserved that term was… me."

"Yeah Weiss? So he can have a name to call you? Like he hasn't had enough shit to deal with in his life because he's a faunus?" She can feel Weiss flinch at her words. "And yeah, I get it that you don't want any excuses for your actions. But honestly Weiss, haven't we all suffered enough? I don't even think Blake wants you to beat yourself up for the rest of your life because you used a slur on the police, which she hates ."

"I got it from my father." Weiss pleads.

"Didn't we all." Ruby laughs, darkly. "I once heard a rabbit faunus being called that during high school Weiss, and it made me laugh." She sighs. "I might not have been as bad as you, but before I met Blake, I think I had it pretty bad. But it's the way that sort of thing works; it's a culture of racism that we learn and have to slowly dismantle. We don't just choose to stop being a racist and party it up after Weiss."

"I… think I understand." Weiss murmurs at last. "Where… did you come up with this?"

"Blake." Ruby laughs. "She has an associate's degree somehow. Ask her about it if you wanna learn more stuff. She'll probably point you in the right direction."

"I… see." Weiss croaks, weak.

"Good. Now I don't hate you, you dork. Now, how about you go get yourself cleaned up since this is the second time you've cried today and your eyeliner is finally running."

* * *

Ruby

[Ruby 10:58 PM: weiss had problems with the hotels. Her cards don't work anymore and none of them accept cash. I took her back in for the night, that okay with you?]

[Blake 11:13 PM: Of course Ruby.]

She'd burnt through two of her good smokes, and one of her roaches. They didn't take her mind off the girl she'd taken home; all they'd managed to do was bring her one day closer to lung cancer.

Now? Weiss had finished showering, and it was her turn to shower, and not think about the fact that Weiss had just been in here minutes prior.

Drip. Drip. Drip. It briefly occurs to her that she could blast herself with ice cold water. But she shivers and catches colds easily, and goes for her usual; a steamy hot boil, with maybe a quick wank tossed in during the wash.

The scald she gives herself just makes her wonder if Weiss ever used showerheads in… that way. If a rich girl like her ever had the need to service herself to pass the lonely nights by. She reaches for the two-in-one, and is immediately disgruntled by the fact that Weiss had used it all.

Great. She didn't have a blow-dryer, so her hair would probably smell rank for the night. Just great.

Frustrated by this turn of events, her mind turns towards the subject of her hair, but concerning the red tips that Weiss liked. She'd need to spend another pretty penny to retain it's vibrant color, but wise economic decisions hasn't exactly ever been Ruby's forte.

She wonders what Weiss's hair routine was like. How long it must have taken. A girl like Weiss certainly seemed the type to wash her hair daily. Deft fingers weaving their way through soft silver locks. The scent of lavender and herbs, gathered from lands far off, wafts with the steam. The boiling water, cascading down her soft features, her hardened nipples, begging to be sucked.

Hanging onto the shower wall for dear life, lest she slip and fall. Weiss's hand, around her sex, wet and gentle. The water provides for little friction, and makes her motions rough and irregular; frustrated, Weiss opens the jar of lube they'd left aside and slathers as much as she can before the water can wipe it away.

Ruby screams, her breath ragged. The steam is near choking and Weiss's hands rub and scratch spots on her back that make her moan. Loudly. Grabbing Ruby's hair and turning her head around for a kiss. Weiss's eyes were fire, terribly hungry. Ruby's legs were jelly, and her arms, pressed against the wall were barely hanging on; Weiss's spare arm holds her by her side. She has her. She has her.

"Weiss… Weiss… Weiss…"

Ruby

She'd forgotten to order the damned pizza. And since they were about to be sharing the same bed, she'd decided not to get herself off for the night. She'd much prefer being able to look Weiss in the eye, in theory.

Weiss was already tucked in again in Ruby's king-size mattress; there was more than enough space for her. For them to share the bed. Together. Aside each other. So no pizza today.

She considers properly dressing to sleep, but decides sweating all over Weiss would be a bigger offense to her than the partial nudity Weiss'd already been exposed to.

It's when she's tucking herself to sleep (almost an entire feet apart, mind her), that a flash of Weiss's creamy pale skin catches her eye; Weiss was wearing her boyshorts. Poorly cut, loose boyshorts she'd gotten in a 6-for-1 at On The Mark that always gave her wedgies every time she wore them. The bland sleeping bralette she'd nabbed at a discount at Elisabeth's Fable because of her meager bust.

By the stars, Ruby was hopeless. She was gay for Weiss, and they were sleeping in the same bed almost completely naked, Weiss wearing her knickers that rode up her cheeks and Ruby really needed to bring her eyes up by this point.

Resigning herself to her fate, she laughs silently at her predicament, and forces her eyes shut. Lending herself to sleep for a mere handful of hours. Or maybe twenty minutes. She couldn't tell.

An arm wraps around her waist. Weiss's arm wraps around her waist, tugging Ruby flush against her. Ripping her from the precipice of unconsciousness, her stomach churns, her cheeks unbearably flush.

"I'm cold." Weiss whimpers, skin clammy.

It was done. She needed to text Blake. Get her home as quick as possible so she could document this. There was no contention, in the grand schema of Most Useless Lesbian Moments Throughout History, this was it.

Ruby reaches out for the nightstand lamp; the light is almost blinding. "You want your shirt?" Ruby mumbles, eyes wincing.

"No." Weiss breathes, spooning her tighter. Fingers just brushing over her covered nipple, and Ruby nearly gasps. "Do you have… more blankets?"

"M-maybe. Lemme look." She groans, then pushes Weiss's spoon off of her, almost forcefully. Getting herself out of the bed to look for anything in the pile beside her bed.

"No." Ruby says. Cold.

Weiss had woken fully now. Staring off into the dark, just past Ruby.

"Whatcha staring at?" Ruby asks. Wondering if Blake was back yet. Wondering what time it was.

"It's beautiful." Weiss mumbles, maybe half-conscious.

Ruby's cheeks burn. She can't keep this going. She has to ask if Weiss is into her that way.

"Weiss?" Ruby asks, soft. Hoping Weiss wouldn't hear her. But Weiss was still staring past her, and it eventually occurs to Ruby that maybe she should follow her eyes.

It's the portrait she'd done of her, for her. Sunset, relaxed pose, captured form, everything. Ruby feels her core burn.

"Uh, sorry." Ruby sputters, rubbing her eyes. "It's bad."

Weiss frowns at her, almost offended. "Bad? Are you delusional? I may have been drunk before, but I meant what I said when I stated that this peace was gorgeous."

Ruby shrinks from the compliment. "Right."

Weiss barely manages to roll her eyes. "You are a fool… and really must learn to value yourself more. Have I… gods, I haven't even compensated you for your work."

"Weiss." Ruby laughs, almost about to cry from nerves. "I don't need it.

"But you worked so hard on it. And it's beautiful." Weiss crosses her arms. Almost fully awake now, and completely exasperated.

"Of course it's beautiful." Ruby eventually remembers to breathe. "You're beautiful."

Weiss's eyes widen to the size of saucers. Before Ruby can remember that she has legs, legs that can take her back into the bathroom for a very cold shower, Weiss stops her. Taking her calloused hand in her soft, perfectly manicured fingers.

"I swear, every time you try that cheesy line on me, I don't know." She breathes. Weiss's hand was so warm. "I've heard far worse lines from boys who have tried to date me, and-"

"I don't want to hear about your past boyfriends." Ruby quivers. Feeling an unbearable tightness in her boyshorts.

"Agreed." Weiss stands, spinning Ruby around.

Their first kiss tastes like Mistralian cinnamon, Pure Vanilla Bean, and Imperial Atlassian Black Tea. Ruby moans, depravedly into Weiss's lips. It's terribly heated, and also undoubtedly terrible. For a first kiss, Ruby hadn't expected it to feel like… four fleshy flaps smacking on each other.

She wants Weiss to whimper; their lips to dance with one another, not smash together like drunken idiots sharing a dance. A wet tongue immediately applies itself to Ruby's own lips, and she quivers, leaning further and further into the kiss. It takes all of Ruby's restraint for her not to push Weiss back into her sheets. And somehow, she knows it the same for Weiss.

"Do you…" Ruby breaks the kiss off, leaving Weiss scowling at her, "did you actually want to kiss me?"

That manages to get a chortle out of her. "Stars, I hope so you dolt." Weiss scolds, pulling her in by her bralette to kiss her again. Or, tries to kiss her again. Instead, she slams her forehead face first into Ruby's skull.

"O-ow! Fuck Weiss!" Ruby cries, holding her head in pain.

"W-why couldn't you watch your head Ruby!?"

"You were the one pulling me in!"

Rubbing her forehead, Weiss sighs. "Was I… kissing you right? I don't have… experience."

"Neither do I." Ruby laughs, tepid. Hands reaching for Weiss's soft, cold nape to pull her back in. Wondering whether she should take more initiative for the night. "Uhm, here, I think I read it in a fanfic somewhere, tilt your head?"

"A fanfic?" Weiss asks, but acquiescing.

What little remains of Weiss's lipstick is smooth, and almost sugary, like caramel drip. A curious tongue probes Weiss's lips, which acquiesce; Ruby lets her tongue explore, Weiss receiving. Pale arms also wrap around Ruby's shoulders, trapping the two of them in their open mouth kiss.

Desperate hands from Weiss probe lower and lower, each inch of skin stripping away more and more of Ruby's sanity. Curious fingers slip underneath her sleep skirt, and Ruby's breath hitches. Both in panic, and out of pure arousal.

"W-we don't have to do anything. This isn't why I helped you." Ruby lies, desperate for more and wanting to disappear.

The feeling of Weiss's fingers grazing against Ruby's sex almost splits her into two. One wanting to drink from an oasis she hadn't the privilege of tasting until now. Another wishing she'd been left to die of thirst in the desert, her body left to dessicate and rot, to be picked apart by vultures.

"I know, but I want to." Weiss returns back to Ruby's lips, biting and sucking at her tongue. But also briefly uncertain. "D-do you?"

She talks before she thinks. "Stars Weiss, yes." Her voice shaky, about to cry. "But-"

Weiss hands leave her sides, stripping off the bralette Ruby'd lent her. Leaving Weiss in Ruby's own pair of now drenched panties.

"Boobs." Ruby gawks. Her own sex stretching out her boyshorts and now nigh impossible to conceal. But she can't come up with the words to tell Weiss something, anything about her… situation.

Shy, Weiss's fingers hook underneath Ruby's bralette, briefly brushing a hardened nipple with her fingers. Ruby squeaks; she's never been this turned on before in her life. Her heart pangs wildly against its constraints; even without words, it felt so terribly liberating. To know that Weiss… had wanted her.

Only when Weiss's fingers hook on her skirt, is Ruby able to recover some semblance of awareness. How close they were. How close Weiss was, to seeing.

"Weiss." Ruby squeaks. She wants it to sound like a warning, but it comes off as a heated plea. "Please."

"Of course." Weiss whispers, eyes staring… at the slight bulge against her skirt.

Ruby's blood freezes ice cold; she tries to step back, but stumbles into her nightstand, and falls flat against the carpet, narrowly avoiding a concussion.

"R-ruby!"

"Weiss." Ruby says, eyes unbearably heavy, her hands pulling at her own hair. "I-I'm so sorry-"

"Wha?" Weiss mumbles, taking her by the shoulders. "Ruby, what's wrong?"

Weiss was going to freak. She was going to scream at her, never want to see her again, all because Ruby'd been an idiot and forgotten to tell her until now.

"Everything was going so fast," Ruby sobs, near incoherent, "a-and I didn't, I kept forgetting to tell you-" the rest of her words dissolve into hysterical mumbling. Ruby was weak, terribly weak and this was the moment where Weiss would see her for her true self.

Eventually, she registers a gentle cooing in her ear. And a curious hand under where her skirt should have been; Ruby's fall had sent her coverage upskirt, her sex still visibly erect, poking out of her boyshorts.

Ruby wails, tears starting anew, her hands desperately flipping her skirt back. "W-weiss, please-!"

"Ruby Rose you dolt, please listen to me! Now, I know I'm not the most… worldly of persons, but I do have some experience… dealing with transsexuals like you!"

Ruby's torn three ways, she wants to keep crying, roll her eyes, and sink into the carpet and disappear. She settles for the first.

"My father had me speak many times for organizations not directly related to the company, but related to LGBT events!" Weiss adds, quickly. "As… surprising as this was, I suppose it was also my fault for escalating you into a situation that you couldn't respond quickly to." Weiss brushes a strand of hair from Ruby's eyes, dabbing at her tears with a handkerchief from her purse. "Ruby, please, I… I don't know what to do and I'm sorry."

An unbearable sweat's gathered in places Ruby would have rather much not thought about. But she's all heated up, and needs to bring herself back to reality. Hand fumbling around, she settles for the cold steel exterior of her nightstand lamp.

"I'm…" Ruby gasps, taking slow breaths, "I'm really sorry for freaking out like that-"

"No, I'm sorry!" Weiss interrupts. "Sexual activity between partners relies on clear communication and mutual consent, and my behavior was unacceptable-"

"Weiss." Ruby sighs, the cold winter air finally bringing her back to the present. "I wanted it too. It was the reason… why I pretty much got all caught up in the moment."

The admission makes Weiss flush all the way down to her clavicle, but the heat is only temporary. Weiss's flush fades as she starts shivering from the winter cold, and Ruby's prior overheating fades in memory as the threat of catching a cold returns.

"Let's talk in bed." Ruby flushes at the implications, but takes Weiss by the hand. "We'll be warmer there."

Weiss nods in agreement, but tucks herself in reluctantly; Ruby's heart aches at Weiss's movements, fearful as if she's terrified Ruby'll break down on her again.

"So…" Ruby sighs, eyes aloof. "I'm trans."

Weiss nods. "I had figured that much."

"Transgender, not transsexual." Ruby adds. "I don't like being called that."

"I… see." Weiss nods, as if taking notes in some lecture. Ruby rolls her eyes, wishing they could just return to… how they were before, without this talk looming ahead of them.

Best to pull the bandage off now. "And I have…"

"A male organ, yes?"

Ruby's stomach squicks in disapproval. "A cock, yes." She frowns, even at that term. "I don't… like calling it that. Or anything, for that matter."

"So you don't call it anything?" Weiss asks.

"None of the words… sound good." Ruby sighs, wanting to be done with the conversation. "Like, you're cis right?" When Weiss nods, Ruby continues. "You get words like pussy, cunt, beautiful flower, and I… everything people use to talk about… what I have makes me feel disgusting. Like, how would you feel if everyone called your thing a fucked-up internal organ?"

"But it isn't?" Weiss says, scratching her head. It was clear she was trying to understand, but to be quite honest, Ruby just wanted to sleep, then spend the rest of tomorrow trying to salvage her relationship with Weiss. When they both had sleep underneath their belts.

"I think I understand what you're saying." Weiss says, earning her a look of skepticism.

"No you don't." Ruby sighs, miserably riding out the dysphoria wave. "Girls get all the beautiful, flowery words for their junk."

"But you're a woman too!" Weiss protests, eyes almost angered. "Sure, I don't understand your experiences, but couldn't I apply the same logic to a poorer woman, a faunus woman, a woman of color? And you're startlingly beautiful; moreso than most other women I've met? I've felt these… sapphic feelings from deep within me for quite sometime now, Ruby Rose, but you are the very first lady to allow them to manifest!"

"Weiss, an entire third of what you just said made no sense to me." Ruby says, earning her an infuriated groan from Weiss.

"It means… it means I still want to fuck you, you dolt!"

In a pure instance, Ruby's arousal had returned full force. The ex-heiress of one of the most powerful mining conglomerates of Remnant, declaring that she, Weiss Schnee, wanted to fuck her. Her boyshorts strained once more, and her hands reached to stretch out her skirt for further coverage.

"I'm... ugly down there Weiss. You really don't want to be with me."

"Nonsense." Weiss protests, trying to coax Ruby out of her defense mechanisms. "So, perhaps you and I possess bodies of different forms." She pauses, likely the nuts and bolts turning inside her brain. "And perhaps that's a tad different from what I'd been thinking a… typical female homosexual relationship would be like. So?"

"Typical female homosexual relationship?" Ruby laughs, through tears.

"Ah, see? I got you to laugh again… even at my expense…" Weiss sighs.

Ruby gently pushes Weiss away, needing the space. "I don't know." She says, still terribly warm and aching for her touch. Wishing that she could just disappear. That she hadn't lost a handle on her own self-control, and hadn't let the situation escalate to what it had before.

"Well I do know." Weiss huffs, pushing away their covers again. Content to let their body heat warm the other "I've always wanted… to be with a girl. Whether she was in your… situation or not."

Ruby tries to bite back the growing discomfort in her stomach. "I feel like you're just fetishising me. Or just settling for me."

"Ruby." Weiss frowns. "A Schnee only settles for the best."

"Yeah but…"

"Ruby, I'm not… hateful towards people of… your situation?" Each word, each effort from Weiss brought another pang in Ruby's heart. Weiss was trying so damned hard. Harder than most people, when it came to… issues regarding her, or issues regarding the faunus.

Ruby whimpers, wiping at her eyes. Trying not to cry again, for Weiss. "That's what everyone says." She says, weak. Adjusting the tightness underneath her skirt. "I'm… I'm just scared Weiss." Her voice quivers. "I'm scared that you'll try, and not like it, and think I'm ugly."

She expects Weiss to say that she isn't ugly. That she will like it, and that Ruby was going to sit down with her and have a wonderful time together with her (unless she did not want to do anything tonight, which was completely fine by her). Instead, Weiss's eyes seemed… lost, almost in a sort of haze. The sort of haze one had when they couldn't decide what to do.

"Do you have water then?" Weiss asks, lowly. Eyes a world away from the present. Wandering, looking for answers.

"Yeah, straight from the tap though." Ruby answers, standing and stretching her body out to relieve the pent up tension inside of her. Heart sinking that Weiss hadn't answered how she'd wanted.

Then. Before Ruby can head off for the water, Weiss sits up, hand grasping at her skirt. Pulling down the offending garment, and leaving Ruby's stretched boyshorts bare, her arousal on obscene display.

"W-Weiss!" Ruby squeals, both in surprise, and in delight. Hands instinctively covering her sex. "Y-you perv!" She laughs.

"You see?" Weiss whispers, eyes dilated. Musky, lost in… her. "You're… outrageously beautiful." Weiss's hands hastily strip off her soaked panties, revealing a freshly trimmed cunt, now on full display. Glistening with... her. "I'm… so terribly wet for you."

"Holy fucking gods, Weiss."

Weiss straddles Ruby's now bared thighs, Weiss's pussy wet, grinding against her. One hand's pale, soft fingers caressing her stunned face. Another hand slipping underneath Ruby's boyshorts.

"Are you okay with this?" Weiss breathes, her body almost fire. Weiss's lips were again in reach, the pale girl waiting for her to reciprocate in turn.

"Yes." Ruby says, brain working overtime trying to keep up. "Gods, yes Weiss."

The last of their clothes are discarded; their lips crash into one another. Quite literally; they nearly take the other out, knocking their noses and foreheads together for their kiss.

"O-ow! What was that!?" Ruby protests, holding her poor nose.

"Be careful! Do you even know what you're doing!?" Weiss groans.

Ruby bites down a retort, instead grabbing onto Weiss's collarbone, pulling her in for a proper kiss. She tilts her head, and sighs at the marked improvement. Weiss's lips are dry though, and Ruby's mind wanders to whether or not she kept chapstick on her nightstand. She licks Weiss's lips as a temporary remedy, the pale girl shuddering into her mouth as her tongue provides kindling for the embrace.

The inexperienced Weiss is quick to move with the 'flow' of things; she takes her previously inanimate arms, meekly placing them onto Ruby's bosom..

"W-weiss! Your fingers are cold!" She laughs, terribly ticklish at the ice cold touch. Her blood feels liquid hot, her body feels unbearably tight, and the contrasting sensations send her laughing into Weiss's lips.

"T-take this seriously Ruby!" Weiss laughs.

"I am! Do you know how cold your fingers got!?" Ruby grabs hold onto Weiss's icicles for fingers in an effort to warm them. Weiss scoffs, then has the glint of a devious idea form in her eyes.

She pushes Ruby's weight to move her on her back, straddling the girl and closing the gap, claiming Ruby's lips hungrily, sinking her teeth in them. Ruby groans, restraining her hips in an effort for her to not buck and grind directly against Weiss's sex.

"I don't have condoms." Ruby admits. Mildly proud, as a proof that she hadn't any ill intentions towards Weiss from the beginning, and only mildly irked that intercourse wasn't… available as an option. But then again, given their circumstances, it likely wouldn't have been an option even if Ruby had… devices of that sort.

Weiss nods in silent fervor. "We can do… other things, right?"

Ruby's mind immediately turns towards the filthy subjects she'd encountered in the fanfics she's read and the smut novels Blake's lent her. "Let's start off slow." Ruby whispers.

"Of course." Weiss groans, terribly eager. Just realizing how close Ruby's sex was to her own, her thighs tensing up involuntarily. Her hand drifting towards Ruby. "May I…"

Ruby swallows, but nods. And gasps at Weiss's touch, her eyes eased shut. Her fingers wrapping around the girth, gentle. Delicate.

"Haaaaa…." Ruby squirms, lost in her contentment. Weiss's body turns Ruby on her side to spoon her while she fondles.

"O-oh…" Weiss mumbles, in awe as if she was a specimen for a science demonstration. " If it helps, I must say that you're quite beautiful down there, from what I've seen." Weiss answers, slowly. Pupils dilating, breath unsteady and unsure. "It's… very feminine in contrast to… other specimen I've seen."

"I… uhm, guess?" Ruby says, heart not really into Weiss's appraisals of… it. Distracting her from how it… felt.

Weiss frowns. "In comparison, if the… typically female organ was like a beautiful lotus, and the typically male organ I find repulsive, you are more akin to a lovely orchid flower."

Ruby felt her face grow considerably warmer. Even as she tried so hard not to react to it. Even as she felt her harden in Weiss's hand, unbearably tight against her grip..

"L-lovely." Weiss breathes, fingers rubbing against her own, differing sex. With soft, gentle touches coaxing out Ruby's length. They were now so terribly warm in their little cuddle, a warmth that felt outright infectious, spreading to the room around them.

"I'm uhm… mmhh…. Have to…" Ruby sighs eyes closing as she struggles not to outright grind her sex against her hand.

"You're… you're close?" Weiss whimpers. Her wet fingers a soft tease against her member. Wet with... Weiss. "Are you?"

"Gods Weiss. Yes!" Ruby squeals, body writhing against Weiss's spooning. It was like a hunger had taken over her core, gnawing at her, demanding her attention. Scratching, crying, calling out around, in her body, just wanting and wanting, and terribly hot.

"You're so incredibly beautiful from my point of view." Weiss breathes. Soft moans breaking her words. Hitched breaths, soft gasps for spaces. "You, desperate against my fingers. It's incredibly erotic and I'm a bit… overwhelmed." Weiss's free arm is frantic, sandwiched and brushing against Ruby's back. Fumbling where Weiss's breasts should be. Fumbling where her own sex should be.

A dark flush shoots into the entirety of her face. "Fuck Weiss." Ruby manages, bucking her hips back and forth, grinding her rear against Weiss's hand. "I-Is there anything I can do?"

Wet lips kiss her collarbone, gently sucking on bared flesh. "I know how t-to take care of myself." Weiss mewls, her desperate fingers wetly rubbing against what must be her clit. "Q-quickly."

"W-Weiss!" She whines, thrusting into Weiss's palm, desperately chasing after what would sate her. "Give me a hickey?"

"H-how do I do that?" Weiss moans.

"J-just suck on my skin harder." Ruby cries, body nearly shaking. Weiss felt so different from her own hand, which felt mechanical, lovely, but missing something. Heat, warmth, longing, she couldn't name it but Weiss had it. "A-and bite me!"

Her well kept teeth sink into Ruby's skin, Weiss sucking onto a single spot just hard enough for Ruby to forget her usual reservations and moan. Loudly. Weiss briefly withdraws her own hand, then returns. Wet, with her own juices. Then another kiss. And another.

It's enough to push Ruby over the edge.

It was as if someone had lit a fire inside her core and left her to burn from the inside out. The warmth and sweat of Weiss's semi-nude form against her own. She just wanted Weiss's hold on her to envelop her. The rush of blood pounding around, against her member, a tightening that almost hurts, but craves, desperate for more.

She wants more. She wants more. She wants more.

"Fuck! Weiss!" She screams. Legs trembling, unbearably stiff and tight. Body coated in a sheen of sweat. Cumming in Weiss's sweet hand, spewing out warm, hot seed against her own sheets. Her comforter, her blankets, her pillows. A lovely shiver, and a depraved trembling against Weiss, who fondles her sensitive member even more, coaxing a few more desperate mewls from the exhausted girl.

It was if someone had dumped a bucket of ambrosia on her nude belly, and had left her to writhe like the filthy little girl she was. Her breathing left hot and ragged, body tipping over into the mess she'd made. A sharp pain in her right thigh; oh, she was cramping, wasn't she?

"Fuck Weiss…" She manages, trying to breathe through her afterglow.

She doesn't know how many minutes pass by before she recovers from her white hot orgasm. But she does know what pulls her back into reality; the desperate breaths of Weiss, calling out for her name.

"Ruby…"

Pulled back to reality by the sound of Weiss's fingers, pumping, schlicking furiously in her own sex.

Ruby manages to turn over, facing Weiss, having caked her side of the bed with her own sweat. Yeah, she really needed to wash the sheets after this.

No, fuck her obligations, right now she had Weiss. Both of her hands furiously fisting at her trimmed pussy. Wiping any of her own cum off of her body with a nearby sheet, Ruby takes one of Weiss's hands, and licks the fingers delicately. Mildly salty, but near flavorless.

Weiss's eyes, lost in a haze of lust, widen to the size of saucers.

"Cum for me Weiss." Ruby growls, having remembered the line from a fanfic she'd read a couple of nights ago. She leans in, returning Weiss's hand and placing her own against Weiss's bare breasts.

"Ruby!" She moans, her own hips grinding down against her own hands. Ruby contemplates replacing Weiss's fingers with her own; she decides against it. Right now, she just wanted Weiss to cum.

Playful fingers tug against Weiss's nipples. Leaning in, once her face was level with Weiss's chest, she takes the nipples into her own mouth. Sucking on it as harshly as she thought Weiss could manage, playing with it with her tongue. Weiss writhes against the foreign sensation, squealing when Ruby pops off her nipple, switching to the other.

"Y-your hands!" Weiss squeals, almost like putty in Ruby's embrace. "Put them around my neck!"

Ruby acquiesces, resisting the urge to make a comment about how unexpectedly kinky that was. Weiss yips when Ruby's cold fingers brush against her soft nape, hands steadily applying pressure. She really had no idea what she was doing, but Weiss seemed to love it.

Leaning up, her lips take Weiss's. They both have terrible midnight breath, but Weiss's squealing into her mouth is almost enough to get another rise out of Ruby's spent sex. Her hips nearly buck; she instead settles for grinding against Weiss's thigh, desperately. Anguish, disgrace, embarrassment that she and Ruby were doing something so... depraved succumbs to enthusiastic desire and lust. Wetting her lips, Ruby kisses her delicate cheek, flushed as red as the tips of her hairs. Then her beautifully chiseled nape, and Weiss lets out a guttural moan that has Ruby's hips speeding up her grinding. Then her ears. Nibbling on the delicate cartilage, Weiss's quivers, hitches, quakes several times over.

"You... you wanna cum for me Weiss?" Ruby whispers.

"Y-yes!" Weiss's cries melt into a desperate whine. Her features flushed pink, her mouth outright drooling. Ruby was sure no matter what or where she'd end up in life, she'd keep the image before her forever. The picture of a disowned ex-heiress to one of the most powerful conglomerates of Remnant, lost in a haze of lust and want, furiously jerking her cunt off to Ruby's own body as she was grinding on her. In her own bed. Weiss's juices and sweat soaking her soilt sheets.

The heat in Ruby's core flared up again; alone, she couldn't possibly drag out another. But with Weiss? She felt like she could last for hours.

But Weiss was so close, if the nails digging at the back of her neck were of any indication. So she grinds harder and harder, panting and moaning desperately, squeals broken only when they needed to kiss.

"A-again!?" Weiss mewls. Ruby nodding desperately; she gives a final, wicked kiss against Weiss's neck, as she chomps against the pale, delicate skin.

Weiss mewls, screams almost at her final release, trembling delicately in Ruby's arms. Ruby trembling through her own orgasm as she helps Weiss with hers', teeth leaving behind marks on her body where she sees fit. Another stream of white hot pleasure releases from Ruby's sex; this time smearing across Weiss's delicious features. Her hot belly, her freshly bitten tits. They rub circles into each other's backs, Weiss delirious, Ruby half-consciously cooing gentle, if mumbled encouragements into Weiss's swollen ears. Each offering her own body as a sort of raft, for the other to hold onto as their partner comes back to reality.

A furious knocking at their bedroom door spurs them from their post-coital haze.

"Okay, and I thought me and Yang were loud. At least try to keep it down there while I'm in the apartment?" Blake groans, likely having been woken up by their trysts.

Having nearly suffered a heart attack at Blake's intrusion, the pair sigh, silently resolving to deal with the embarrassment later., Right now, they were perfectly fine, writhing in the post-sex afterglow. Weak arms fumbling around each other for a suitable embrace. Ruby's cum and Weiss's sweat smearing against the other's bodies; they laugh, wiping off the obscene mixture with their last fresh blanket.

The sweat and heat of their bodies together, cooling against the cold winter air. Clinging onto the other for warmth.

"Fuck..." Ruby tries to laugh, but it comes out as a sated groan. Wanting to bury her head in Weiss's shoulder and sleep.

Weiss sighs, her breath hot against bare skin. Voice emeshed with bliss, almost a pitch lighter. Content to just the rest of their night whispering sweet nothings, lying around in the mess they'd made. Wanting to stay with each other until sleep took them again.

"Just lay here with me a while, won't you?"


	4. eggshells of my mind

**_Ruby_**

Ruby gasps, her breath ragged, her body covered in a sheen of sweat. Her poor feet felt frozen, exposed to the air, the comforter beneath her was stained in something dry and scratchy, her body felt sore all over, and her arms were holding onto something delicately soft and warm.

And something was grabbing at her chest. It's something she realizes is actually happening when she feels an arc of pink pleasure zip through her body, starting from her chest.

She trembles, half-asleep and moans. Loudly.

"Ruby?"

The sound of Weiss's sweet voice gets her to moan, just a little bit louder, and she shifts her body towards the noise in an effort to draw closer. Eventually, she tries looking. Blinking out the drowsiness in her eyes in the mornings is always a struggle, but catching Weiss's needy gaze makes her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Are you okay?" Weiss asks, concern and worry etched on her face. Arm wrapped around her stomach; Weiss had held her through the night, acting as big spoon.

Weiss had woken up and worried about her. For her.

Her throat is too dry to answer, so she settles for a half-aware nod, before turning to face away on instinct.

Her eyes were wet, and she didn't want to let Weiss know she was crying for something so stupid. No need to scare her off with her problems after all. This was a happy morning. Best to enjoy it while it lasted.

"Yeah." Ruby sighs, content to just bathe in how warm she felt in the morning glow. Her hands wander over to the arm wrapped around her stomach, Weiss's gentle touch sending echoes of last night running through her. "Last night was… fun?"

Somehow, she can feel Weiss rolling her eyes without even looking at her. A pair of soft lips pressed against her back answers for her, teeth marking the soft skin, Ruby's breath hoarsely groaning at the sensation.

"V-very."

Whatever Ruby had meant to say next was shaky, rendered incomprehensible by the coming torrent of affections Weiss had for her back.

By the end of it all, she was sure she was painted with Weiss's hickeys, and could not care less on how she'd hide them later on.

"Hey. You're okay?" Weiss asks, laying Ruby on her back and straddling her body so they could look at each other.

"M'oversensitive." Ruby manages, each touch of Weiss like fire. Her eyes meet Weiss's, but her cum-stained features win her full and undivided attention. "Hey there…"

Weiss smiles at her lecherous gaze. The way Weiss's chest is all nice and perky in the cold winter air, hardening… goddess. "Are you alright? You were tossing and turning quite a bit in your sleep and I got worried."

Ruby shifts a bit trying to make herself comfortable under Weiss's weight, but flashes her… lover a smile. "Nightmares. I'm used to them every now and then."

Weiss's fingers slip over Ruby's shoulders, nuzzling into her neck. "I'm sorry."

Ruby giggles, sighing when her sex slides against Weiss's navel, her own precum serving as lubricant. "It's okay… it's all better now that I have you to wake up to."

_(Goddess, was that coming on too hard? She didn't want to be pushy. Besides, for all she'd know, this was a one night stand-)_

Weiss pulls her into another kiss, and the trembling in Ruby's arms stops. "An artist, and a flirt." She says, when their lips part. Already coming back for more. All her usual morning grogginess melts away as they fall into a little impromptu makeout session, wandering hands clumsy, groping at the other's flesh.

"One hell of an alarm clock." Ruby snickers, earning a chortle from Weiss.

"You made me dirty." Weiss smiles, gesturing to the dried cum smears on her body. Ruby flushes red at the sight.

"Sorry! I don't really have tissues and I didn't really think that sorta thing through when I… uh… Do you want me to clean it up?" Ruby says, already hovering over the spots and licking Weiss clean.

"Ruby!" Weiss laughs, pushing Ruby's attentive mouth away. "You dolt, that can't be… sanitary!"

Ruby shrugs. "Why not? It's my own stuff."

"Well, it must be weird… licking it then!"

"It's not that bad."

"How exactly would you know?"

"I've…" Ruby flusters red, realizing she'd have to explain a kink of hers to Weiss, "Uhm… tasted my own… stuff before."

"Why on Remnant, would you-"

"Because I really want a cute girl or guy or whatever and their thick, throbbing cock to just cum in my mouth and maybe all over my body okay? There, now you know I'm a weird, gross girl and I should probably leave you."

Weiss takes her hand, presumably to halt her train of thought before she engages in a full-fledged panic. "Ruby. Calm down." When she's gotten her back on her level, she continues. "Ruby, I'll have you know that I'm no stranger to kinks. In fact, from what I've heard, yours is relatively mild."

"How do you know about all this stuff, but you don't know anything about pizza?"

"I've had it once before!" Weiss huffs. "Maybe? Describe the dish to me?"

Ruby sighs, slumping back into her pillow. "We are so buying you some pizza during the day."

Weiss flushes pink. "Oh. Uhm, thank you."

The day. The day. Right, they at least had another day together… right?

"If you wanna?" Ruby flashes her a smile, her own nerves telling her she'd probably come up short.

Against it all, Weiss meets her lips again for another kiss. "Of course."

And just like that, her heart is plucked again, like a violinist to a string.

"I was actually planning to ask you-"

*Pluck*

"And I was wondering if later you wanted to talk about… us?"

*Pluck*

_(Do not fuck this up now Ruby Rose)_

"Yeah, of course. Uhm," The wetness in her eyes was pooling again, "did you maybe wanna freshen up?"

* * *

_**Weiss**_

She couldn't tell which was warmer; the scalding hot waters pouring down on them from the shower head, or the burning heat in her core that started right about when she'd suggested they share a bath together to save on the water bill.

To be quite frank, as coy and shy they might have acted around each other before getting into the bath, she was pretty sure Ruby didn't give much of a damn about the bill.

"I don't get it…" Ruby moans, furiously stroking at her firm clit (their agreed upon name for Ruby's anatomy). She presses in to meet Weiss's lips again and again and again, each kiss wet and warm, until they're both left gasping for air between heated kisses. "Why does your hand feel so much better than mine?"

Ruby's perky breasts had been bitten raw, and Ruby had relished returning the favor, leaving bright purple welts blooming on Weiss's neck. Really, they hadn't even bothered with any sort of buildup, the newness and excitement of having a… sexual partner, a lover, more than enough to arouse them so completely.

Weiss was fingers herself with glee, eyes lost with bliss. Weiss hadn't too much of a clue regarding how Ruby's own anatomy… pleasured her, but she could tell from the little hitches in Ruby's voice that they were both close. They come back in for another kiss; Weiss hums pleasurably into the embrace, and Ruby catches just the faintest hint of mischievousness in her tone.

Deft fingers remove Ruby's hands from her own sex, guiding them to Weiss's. Ruby's own clit throbs in protest, warm and in need, until Weiss's own soft fingers grasp her member, stroking the delicate skin.

Ruby's eyes dilate; a filthy shudder passes through her own body, nearly infectious. She seemingly bites down on her own cheek, lips pressed tight to keep her from coming too quickly.

Still dilated, Ruby's eyes snap back to attention, with a newfound determination that makes Weiss yip in delight.

"The clit. Go for my clit. I'm so close Ruby, stars."

Half-aware, but nodding, Ruby's finger presses deeper into Weiss's crevasse, exploring, pushing the skin aside to help her further in.

"More. Ruby, more." Weiss begs. "Two fingers. Please."

Ruby gulps. "Will your… uhm… innocence be intact?"

Weiss nearly chortles at Ruby's attempt at a euphemism. "Stars Ruby, I broke my hymen myself years ago with the showercap." Weiss's hand fondles Ruby's pulsing clit even harder, the other pulling Ruby's neck into a merciless hickey, to which she screams.

"Gods!"

"Please Ruby." Weiss growls, Ruby squealing in peverted delight. "More."

A second finger enters her; she growls at Ruby to go higher. And higher. And higher. Each order enunciated with another hickey and bite mark upon Ruby's cute neck.

Finally, she reaches it. Weiss's very own sensitive clit. Arcs of pleasure shudder through the frail body every time Ruby touches it. Weiss was at this point, screaming in delirium; she was becoming undone.

The hand at Ruby's sex strokes harder, the teeth at her neck chomps down, nearly breaking skin. Ruby wails out what might have been the announcement of her climax; her nails drag across Weiss's back, desperate for something, anything to hold onto.

Her stomach, her core, her body succumbs to the pleasure. Weiss bites down on Ruby's shoulder one last time. Ruby and Weiss were officially undone; a tangled, moaning, writhing mess laid bare against a terribly kept shower floor. Not bothering to hear the furious banging on the bathroom door, they're content to just float atop euphoria in the post-sex afterglow.

They don't know how long it takes before they realize the water's gone cold. How many kisses that taste of blood they share, lazily making out on the shower floor. It's only when the bite mark that Weiss had left on her shoulder feels raw, that she realizes they should probably exit the shower sometime soon.

Reluctantly, Weiss reaches up, fumbling around to turn the shower off.

"That was great…" Ruby giggles, nuzzling against her chest.

"Silly." Weiss sighs, wincing when she sees the bloody bite mark she'd left on Ruby. "Ruby? Are you okay?"

"Never better."

"No, I mean your shoulder, I…" She gestures towards the bite mark-turned fleshy wound, and Ruby seems to notice it for the first time, wincing as the pain finally catches up to her.

"Oh, wow. Damn."

"And I think you tore some of the skin off my back…"

"I did?" Ruby gets up, motioning for Weiss to do the same so she can check up on her. So she acquiesces. "Oh, shit I did. Weiss, fuck, I am so sorry-"

"Ruby I… liked it." Weiss says, trying to defuse the situation. "And I did the same thing to you."

Ruby frowns, dejected by how far things had gone out of control. "Let's work out boundaries next time then. Okay?"

Weiss smiles with mirth, eyes scanning up and down Ruby's body again. Feeling an undeniable wetness as she does so. Stars, Ruby was absolutely beautiful, even if she didn't believe so herself. Her curves, her aesthetic, her… assets which totally most definitely did not make her jealous in any way whatsoever.

"That sounds lovely." Weiss says, Ruby flushing at her response.

"Aw, gross!" The voice comes from the ventilation shaft right above the shower; they'd closed it, obviously, but some things would come out, no matter how many pillows they tried to stuff into it.

Ruby's demeanor drops at the familiar voice; something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

"Ruby. What's going on?"

The voice outside, loud and boisterous, speaks again. "Blake, why is my sister's bed all covered up with her own splooge?"

* * *

**_Ruby_**

"So, lemme get this straight. You're telling me that my baby sister went and fucked the richest daughter in all of Remnant?"

Cheap, instant coffee is spat out onto the family table by Weiss, struggling for air. Ruby glares daggers at the returning head of the household, and Blake was half-present in the moment, likely high and her head pressed against Yang's shoulder.

"Yang!"

"What? This is great for you! You're getting out there, meeting new people, even if you're doing… things I'd rather not imagine you doing."

Ruby rolls her eyes, desperate to move the conversation along. "Whatever. What are you doing back here?"

Yang's eyes dart away, fingers playing with Blake's hair. "I'm, uh, moving back here Rubes! Isn't it great?"

Ruby sighs. "But you worked so hard to get that internship Yang…"

"Yeah? And? I didn't work my ass off to get an internship where my ass would be worked overtime by some boss who keeps staring at my ass every time I look away from him. I didn't work my ass off just so he can rant about how 'females' don't have the mental capacity to succeed in the tech industry!"

Blake presses her head against Yang's toned arm, rubbing gentle circles into her muscles. "I'm sorry babe."

Yang sighs, slipping an arm around Blake's shoulder. "I know baby. I know."

The affection between the two of them makes Ruby pang with jealousy, eyes darting over to Weiss for any (unlikely) opportunity for affection.

"Anyway!" Ruby clears her throat, hoping to drag the two away from... distracting each other. "I have a very important question to ask."

"Yeah, shoot Rubes."

"Yes Ruby?" Blake asks.

Ruby clears her throat, unsure about how to proceed here. She wanted to ask if Weiss could stay indefinitely in her room for the time being; 'Hey, I just met this random rich girl off the street who's maybe wanted by half the Sainte Elise police department, can she live here with us?'

Probably wouldn't work.

If she threw it on them too quickly, then it'd probably seem like too much to just take in a total stranger like Weiss. Not to mention the fact that they were... dating? Sorta? It was complicated, and complicated relationships did not make good house living material.

"So anyway..."

"You're going to ask if Weiss can stay with us?" Blake asks, without even batting an eye up at them.

"Oh." Was it that visible on her face?

"Wait." Weiss speaks up. "You all don't have to do this for me, especially you Ruby."

"I mean," Blake starts, "Weiss has like fifty thousand lien in her purse right? We do need someone to help us out with rent until one of us gets an actually decent job."

Yang gawks openly at Weiss. "Fifty-fucking slo-mo bills what?"

"Can someone please explain to me what that means?" Weiss grumbles.

"How about this?" Yang says. "If Weiss pays up her portion of the rent, and maybe buys us some new shit for our apartment, then I'm totally down to have her here with us."

"I'd much rather have most of my money in savings." Weiss says. "But I'm very willing to take on a job, and take a large share of the rent for the time being. And I could spare a thousand or two for some new furnishings."

"Spare a thousand or two." Yang scoffs. "Gods, the things I'd do to be able to say that shit."

"Then I'm okay with it." Blake shrugs. "Even if Weiss was a total bitch, it'd be cool to take her in, just to spite Daddy Schnee."

Weiss coughs, disgust apparent on her face. "Thank you for the... compliment, but please don't call him that."

"You're only sort of a bitch." Blake says, earning herself three languid glares. Though in the case of Yang, it was more akin to a scolding a schoolteacher might give to a naughty-oh dear. "Exactly what else am I supposed to call Papa Schnee then, if I may ask?"

Weiss nearly gags. "I'd… much rather not hear about him. Ever again."

"That's understandable. I wish I could never hear about him ever again. But unfortunately, being faunus isn't exactly a choice."

Weiss winces, and Ruby lets out a loud sigh aimed particularly at Blake.

"I'm not being serious Weiss. Just having a little fun."

"Rough shift babe?" Yang asks, curling an arm around her.

Blake nuzzles into the embrace, a contented purr escaping from her lips. "Some drunk asshole sorority girl tried to touch my ears. Couldn't exactly do anything until she tried grabbing me, and that was when I could throw her out."

"I'm sorry baby." Yang murmurs, fingers weaving through Blake's thick black mane of hair. "You know, I could probably make you feel better tonight~"

Ruby slams her fist on the table. "Yang!"

"What? Not like you haven't heard before."

She very much tries not to gag at the thought, and makes herself dizzy trying to repress the thought. "Well, two can play at that game!"

Without thinking, she tips Weiss's chair back, and uses the angle to capture her neck in a motley of kisses, making sure to break the skin each time. Another hand slips up Weiss's blouse; Weiss, though initially in stunned embarrassment, settles into the affections over time, and returns each touch tenfold.

After a momentary anarchy at the table, things would calm down, and they'd set up an actual system of house rules. They tried not to throw on Weiss any rules they didn't follow themselves, and as a result, mostly set up courtesy rules. Such as; clean up after yourself (even though the apartment was already messy, so this rule really just meant 'don't make the place even messier'). Always let the others know when you're canoodling with your partner (they used that exact phrase). Grocery quotas, household chores, etc. And no house parties. Blake was antisocial, Ruby was the awkward type and was overstimulated easily, and Yang had trauma.

All in all, Weiss's entrance into the Xiao Long-Rose-Belladonna household went surprisingly smooth, given the array of clashing personalities the four of them were.

It was when Yang started chatting up her new... partner? Girlfriend? That she'd realized she hadn't had much alone time to herself for the past two days, and would probably start to overheat emotionally from all the socializing. She excuses herself outside for a little walk, desperate for fresh air.

The time was around ten on a weekday, and it was winter. This meant two things. Firstly, that it was cold. And secondly, that La Mer's city streets, always busy with tourism during the summer, were almost dead, the local businesses forced to cater to drunk university students after classes for revenue.

A whim catches her, and she decides to ride it; she ducks back into the apartment to grab something she needs, and heads to one of the beachfront's many hotel resorts. The Roslynn Resort's management was a perfect combination; too much cash on hand, and not enough effort into managing their workers. Meaning to locals, it was easy enough to slip by security and take advantage of the resort's many amenities.

Blessed most of all; a heated indoor pool.

As per usual during the winter months at this time of day; it's mostly empty, so she changes to her bathers (a frilly black two piece, with a skirted bottom, for... coverage,) and dives in.

As she'd remembered it, the water is a heavenly blanket on her skin, wet and warm. The sigh she lets out when she resurfaces on her back is laced with ecstasy, and she loses herself, floating around, paddling back and forth, racing by herself in the water for goddess knows how long.

She wonders what Weiss and the others were doing right now. Now that she had time to herself to think, she'd realized it might have been strange to just take off and leave your partner with your roommates. She had a good excuse for it (maybe) but sometimes just didn't follow the social cues that were thrown at her and made everyone around her pissed off as a result.

It likely wasn't good to dwell on the thought too much, but she couldn't help but wonder how Weiss and her roommates were getting along. But the thought was relentless; the possibility that Weiss might not like her sister and her girlfriend, or Weiss might be feeling lonely and it was all her fault, or that Weiss might decide later that she just didn't like her. Which would make the whole living together situation awkward.

She honestly couldn't figure out why Weiss liked her. She wasn't particularly pretty, and she was difficult to talk to. Sometimes she talked too much, sometimes she talked too little. And she had a habit of saying or doing things that made others angry, when she hadn't meant to make people angry at her.

The only thing Ruby had going for her really was the fact she hadn't scared Weiss off yet. That was a pretty big accomplishment in and of itself.

She didn't have much money either. Financial hardship was a major reason relationships were delayed/broke up right? She'd likely have to find an actual job. Her current job as a street painter was just too unreliable to make a stable living off of and if she was going to be with Weiss... she'd want something more secure for the two of them. And it wasn't as if art was her 'dream job'. It was just something she'd been good at once, and as Yang once said, "If you're good at something, never do it for free." Or maybe that was from a movie.

An exhausted sigh escapes her lips, and she's about to turn over and swim a couple more laps before she hears the sound of a throat clearing right above her.

"Hey Rubes. Wanted to talk to you, and I guessed you were here since you weren't answering your phone. You wanna talk?"

Ruby comes very close to outright drowning from the jump scare Yang had given her, much to her idiot sister's delight. "Yang you boob, I nearly drowned!"

"Oh come on Ruby, you're like a seal! You'd live and breathe underwater if you could."

"Seals don't have gills Yang. They can't breathe underwater, but they can survive-"

Yang waves her off. "Yeah, yeah. If you're not too pissed, can we talk?''

Ruby huffs, but paddles over to the three-feet zone to stand and cross her arms. "Yeah Yang?"

"You know, I'm like super happy for you. This is like, pretty freaking big, like you've always been... bad with people and now the first friend you make outside of us, you go and get a rich girl to U-haul in with you?"

Ruby scoffs, splashing her. "God, it wasn't like that!"

"I know, I know. I'm just glad we get to gay it up in our little apartment, you know? And... I just wanted you to know that if you ever needed to talk to me about anything, just let me know, okay?"

That didn't exactly answer why Yang had gone and seen her instead of just shooting her a text.

"Yang, I know how to take care of myself, gosh."

Yang pauses, sighing. "Yeah, you know. Just trying my best to be big sis, you know? Make up for lost time."

There was a flash of guilt in her eyes, that said it all; memories of a previously fraught relationship that were best left untouched.

"Thanks Yang." Shrugging off any emotional distance she had with her, she does her best to smile. "I really missed you."

"Aww shucks. I missed you too. Missed you up in Chromium Valley."

Ruby sighs, peaceful. "How was it up there anyway?"

"Full of shitheads who wanna suck Raylon Husk's dick and think they're the next big thing. All of them think know the answers to anything, when they can barely even muster up the energy to crack open a book."

Ruby cringes at the thought. "That bad, huh?"

"You wouldn't believe it. I had to listen to one guy, who was my manager, rant about how art was a drain on our society since it wasn't fucking STEM, because we need STEM to survive, while we don't need art."

Ruby makes a loud gagging sound. "Gross."

Yang groans. "I fucking know Rubes, I know. But I don't wanna spoil your little pool excursion by telling you about my woes. You wouldn't mind if I let Weiss know you're here, right?"

Ruby sputters out a gulp of water she hadn't even known she'd taken in. Weiss? How was she doing? She wasn't mad, was she?

"Well, if you do mind... sorry?" Yang dashes off, leaving behind a very confused Ruby to pick up the pieces of the fate she'd just left her to.

"Ruby?" Weiss's voice was shy, coming in the direction of the pool entrance. Ruby was just about to sputter something about not being ready (she felt embarrassed in her swimsuit,) but as it turned out, she hadn't needed to.

She wore an innocent white bikini, covering just enough so as to not be racy, but revealing just enough to not be considered conservative. The white went well with her milky pale thighs, her modest hips, her inviting lips, and bright blue eyes.

If it hadn't been for the fact she was in three-foot deep water, she might have as well sputtered out another gob of water; thankfully. Definitely not an attractive thing to do in front of her partner.

"Weiss." Her eyes scan up her body, then down, then up, and down, and she realizes she's ogling her and it's too much for her lesbian brain to handle without shortcircuiting. "Uh. Hey?"

Weiss snickers. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Hey."

Ruby groans, getting out of the water before sauntering over to Weiss. "What are you doing here?" She pauses, before catching herself; what she'd said could be taken the wrong way. "I mean, I'm not mad you're here, you just didn't have to come here for me!"

Weiss smiles at her, warm and glittery. "Well, I wanted to. Am I not allowed to do that with my girlfriend?"

Ruby freezes at the word. "Girlfriend?"

The smile tapers, Weiss having caught herself. "Oh. I mean, I." She clears her throat, cursing something in Atlessian. "I wanted to ask you two things first, Ruby."

Instead of acting encouraging or inviting or anything appropriate for the situation at hand, Ruby just nods, meek and demure. "Okay."

"Firstly. Would you like to make our relationship official? And become... girlfriends?"

Ruby nods. "Okay. I mean, y-yes!" She takes Weiss's hands in her own, kissing her hands, her arms, her neck, then just flat out tackling her into the pool to release all the energy that she'd built up in seconds.

"G-gah! Ruby you dolt, I can't swim!" Weiss manages to sputter out after resurfacing, one arm holding onto Ruby for dear life, the other arm thrashing about.

"O-oh! Sorry!" With as strong as a grip she could manage, she pulls Weiss back to the shallow end of the pool, all while her girlfriend grumbled about dolts and dorks. "Better?"

Weiss harrumphs. "Better. And secondly, what I was about to ask before you nearly gave me a heart attack and nearly flat out drowned me..."

"Oops..."

"Was this." Brushing a wet strand of hair out of her eyes, Weiss leans in for a kiss. "I would like to take you up on that offer and have pizza with you Ruby. Would you like to spend the entire day with me?"

Ruby leans in for another kiss, that being an answer of it's own. Weiss hums, contented into the embrace. It starts out innocent, but descends into desperate open-mouth kisses, needy fondling, and hushed teasing. It's only when Ruby remembers they're still in public that they pull back.

"That..." Ruby coughs, "is too good."

Weiss scoffs, but darts her eyes away, coy. "Yes. Very much so."

"But uhm... yeah. I'd love to spend the day with you, get some food, maybe some coffee?"

The way Weiss smiles at her makes her wish they could spend every day like this. Was it normal to feel this way... just seconds into the relationship? "Good. Because I could use some actual coffee after whatever terrible shlock your apartment had to offer."

* * *

_**Weiss**_

Ruby's first taste of expresso goes just about as well as she'd expected; the girl recoils at the concentrated earthy notes, nearly dropping the ceramic at first contact.

"How do you drink that!?"

"Differing taste buds." Weiss smirks. This was in no way a demonstration of Weiss's more mature flavor palatte, just to show off to Ruby. In no way.

Ruby passes back the ceramic; Weiss swirls the drink, carefully inspecting the crema for quality, before placing the delicate drink to her lips; a traditional Vacuan blend.

"How can you stand the taste?"

"Mmm. It's light, with refreshing, delicate fruity notes. But there's a coarse, almost sandy edge to it."

"So you like eating sand. Is it rough and coarse and does it get everywhere?"

She rolls her eyes, flicking her date on the nose before sipping on her complementary sparkling water, washing away the aftertaste.

"See? You have to drink your fancy seltzer to wash away the ick."

Weiss rolls her eyes. "Does that mean you won't be kissing me anymore, Ruby Rose?"

Predictably, Ruby took it as a challenge, pressing their lips together. Whether it was to be just a quick peck or not, Weiss takes the opportunity presented, capturing their kiss, and sliding her tongue in Ruby's warm mouth. Weiss quivers, Ruby moans, and Weiss parts from the kiss as fast as she'd taken it; the look of total fluster on Ruby's face so very worth it.

"Ugh. Your mouth tastes like ick."

Weiss snorts, though she concocts a most devious idea thereafter. "Maybe if my mouth is so distasteful, you won't have any problem tasting my other parts?"

If Ruby had flushed any redder, she would have overheated and died then and there.

"I, uhm, I, uh, well."

"Are you opposed to that idea as well, Ruby Rose?" She whispers, her hot breath meeting the curve of Ruby's ear. "Of eating me out?"

Ruby seemingly shrinks in her seat. Weiss slips her arms around her, protecting her from the wandering gazes of the cafe's patrons. Whispering increasingly obscene ideas in her ear. It was lucky of Ruby that she'd elected to wear a skirt today. Her arousal wouldn't be noticed unless one knew of it.

Ruby's beauty was such that she just found herself teasing her without mercy every now and then; a whispering of a lewd idea, a recounting of last night's events, all to make Ruby squirm and blush in her arms. A quick confession; she had to do her best to not just outright melt at the sight of Ruby in a bikini back at the pool, her curvy body glistening wet as she walked out of the water like a Jane Bond girl.

"Maybe one day I could eat you out."

She receives a gentle elbow in the rib for her efforts. "N-not now, when we're so far away from home you jerk."

Undeterred, she continues her affections. "You mean you don't like the affection? Ruby, I'm hurt…"

"N-no, just it feels weird in front of everyone, you know? With everyone watching…"

Weiss frowns, pulling back from the lustful path she'd set herself on. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you uncomfortable with public displays of affection?"

Ruby purses her lips, seemingly unsure of her answer. "Right now, a little bit. But I don't know, the thought of you… doing things to me and the other way around…"

"Oh?" Weiss smiles.

"It's sorta a turn on." Ruby whispers.

Tilting her head, she sees an opportunity for a dashing tease; and Schnee or ex-Schnee, she always seized any benefitting opprotunity when they came.

"Oh?" She takes the soft, rounded edges of Ruby's clavicle in her hand, a finger gently brushing against her cheek. Ruby shudders; she's hers now, perfectly in her hands. "Well, I don't mind." She whispers. "Do you like this? To have you, in my arms, for everyone to see? Are you afraid Ruby?"

"Goddess, fuck Weiss." Ruby's eyes dart away to check for voyeurs, briefly, before her lips press forward, capturing Weiss's in hers.

It's warm, and hot, and heavy, and Ruby's lips are just as chapped as they were last night, intimate memories surging back. Stirring up a warmth in her core. A wanting.

Goddess, she loves this.

The only thing that could take her out of the moment right now, was an unexpected, voyeuristic coughing clearly meant to grab her attention. She's tempted to just keep canoodling with Ruby, but her mannerisms win over her eventually, so she pulls back.

"Well you two seem to be getting to know each other better. Tan skin, mint-green hair, blood red eyes, and an outfit that screamed 'Beach Bum,' that Weiss's fashion sense couldn't help but judge ruthlessly.

At the sound of her voice, Ruby freezes.

"Well, well Ruby, glad to see you're doing great for yourself girl!" She leans down to capture Ruby in a tight hug. Which, from reading Ruby's frozen body language, she clearly did not want. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your new lover?

"My name's Weiss. Who exactly are you?" Weiss asks, trying to present herself as pleasantly as she could.

"Me and Ruby are friends!" She grins, Ruby flinching at the word 'friend.'

"I mean, we used to be friends." Emerald's words barely register in Ruby's eyes. She must have been missing at least half of whatever she's saying. "I'd love for us to be friends again one day Ruby."

"Yeah. Uh." Ruby doesn't even bother looking back. Body language stiffened, her grip on her hand tight and unforgiving.

"Yeah, uh? That's really all you have to say after so long? Ruby, I know you're not really over her, but at least show a little maturity regarding the past?"

"That's enough. You're clearly making Ruby uncomfortable, and I'd like for you to leave."

Ruby, long dissociated from the conversation, seemed to just want to slide underneath their table and hide.

"Oh?" She hears Weiss standing from her seat to stare her ex down; beyond that, it's all guesswork. "You're Weiss Schnee, the drunk sorority girl from the papers. Tell me, what exactly compelled you and… Ruby to even tolerate each other's presence?"

Weiss flashes her a nasty glare. The glare that sent the posse of suck-ups that followed Father around daily running in terror. "Excuse me? Is that any of your business?"

"Maybe, considering she was part of our crew in the past before." She smirks, as if relishing in the discomfort she was inflicting on Ruby. My name's Emerald."

"Pleasure to meet you. Now leave us to our business."

That gets her to snort.

"You've met Yang, haven't you?" Emerald rolls her eyes. "Big girl, gets angry sometimes, has enough problems to fill up an entire psycho ward on her own. You're sure you don't want to know what you're getting into? Ruby isn't exactly all sunshine and rainbows-"

She stands up as tall as she can, though that might have been a mistake, given that Emerald was far taller than her. "I will not tolerate you talking about my girlfriend like this. Leave, and never greet us again."

"Fine, whatever. Looks like you two deserve each other anyways."

Whatever sensibilities had held Weiss back prior tear apart, and Weiss smashes her fist on the table. "If you ever, ever, ever come near me or Ruby ever again and harrass us, I will personally break you, you little ingrate. I may no longer be a Schnee, but I was still raised as one. And I guarantee I can make your worthless little life a living hell, whelp." The words, the bile flowing out of her mouth feels so very familiar for her to say. So familiar, that she wonders why she hadn't just resolved their situation this way from the start.

Emerald scowls at them, though not without backing up, a hint of fear in her footsteps. "Break me? The hell are you, Bane?" She takes off, without even so much as an apology. What a waste of time. With that problem gone, she could focus on her date, who seemed wordless and unreacting.

"I'm sorry." Is all Ruby manages.

First, she'd need to pull her out of the atmosphere that inane idiot had created. The drinks had already been paid for, so she leaves the ceramic mugs behind, tipping very generously, before dragging Ruby out of her seat.

Ruby follows so lifelessly, that she might as well have just carried her on her shoulder. They're near the waterfront, so they'd probably find somewhere to sit nearby the sea; hopefully the sight of the ocean would calm Ruby down.

"I'm freaking out." Ruby nuzzles up against her arm at a crosswalk, waiting for the stoplight. Holding her like she'd disappear if she'd let go. " I'm… I'm really sorry."

Ruby's embrace pulls at her, a dizziness, a nausea suddenly overtakes her. But she has Ruby to take care of. Ruby was more important. "Ruby. Why are you talking like this?"

Ruby flinches at her voice, and she realizes how intense the way she'd been talking was. "I… I don't know."

Weiss grits her teeth. Not knowing and not being able to do anything... made her angry. And she didn't want to be angry at Ruby. And dwelling on these thoughts, she realized she didn't want to be angry in front of Ruby. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ruby swallowing is almost audible.

"I don't… I didn't like her."

Weiss snickers, a moment of humor in the unlikeliest of times. "Well that much was obvious."

Not even a smile from Ruby."I'm, I'm sorry, I just don't want to talk about it."

"I understand."

Ruby's eyes water. "I mean, not right now, I'm just, I don't know-!"

"Ruby." She grabs onto her shoulders to steady her, to ground her back into reality. "You don't have to know, okay?"

Ruby's eyes barely follow her; she's focused entirely on clawing at her own hand, perhaps as a stim. Coping mechanism or not, she takes Ruby's hands in her own to keep her from hurting herself, pressing tightly against the soft skin of her wrists.

"I'm here. Please. Ruby."

"I'm sorry Weiss." Ruby whimpers.

Weiss pulls her into her arms, holding her as tightly as she could, and kissing the top of her head. "I know Ruby. There's nothing to be sorry for."

Ruby's body felt so light in her arms, unlike before, though it makes it easy to guide Ruby to a beachfront bench and sit her in her lap.

"I'm sorry for ruining our date, and-and for making this all bigger than it needed to be and for wasting your time-"

"Trust me Ruby." Weiss whispers, nuzzling against Ruby's neck, still fresh with hickeys. The breaking of the waves crashing against the shore seemed to be calming her, the sea salt in the air soothing in a way. "Right now, there's no place I'd rather be."


	5. all i wanna do (is canoodle you)

_CW: Emotional Breakdowns, Past Trauma, Near Drowning, Exhibitionism, Fingering, Blowjobs, Sub/Dom_

* * *

**Weiss**

Out of the two of them, Weiss would be the first to acquire a legitimate job, in spite of her complete and utter dearth of qualifying work experience. Through sheer personality and persistence alone, it had only taken her the hundredth job application to turn up a glorious minimum-wage barista job with no benefits at Indigo Coffee.

Ruby hadn't any such luck, and it was soon clear that her persistence was only burning her out. So just a week after Weiss started on her job, she (with Blake and Yang), had told Ruby to take a breather, keep bringing in whatever she could as a street artist, and get back to the soul-suckingly depressing job hunt in about a week or so.

In a way, Weiss was envious of Ruby. Sure, her job on average paid under minimum wage, but she didn't have to deal with cursed brunch hours, snappy middle-aged women who seemed hell-bent on making her shift a living hell, and a damned expresso machine which was on the verge of breaking down and needed a repair every other shift or so.

And her once-perfectly pedicured feet, turned to mush by standing up all day. She'd made a snide remark on the innovative technology of chairs, but her boss had snapped at her about how it made the customer feel 'unwelcome', blah blah blah.

And so it was just like any other day. Another shift having come and gone, another tired walk home to jump and cry in Ruby's arms (if she were there.)

And the damned elevator was broken, so she'd have to torture her feet trudging up the damned stairwell she so very much despised.

She's only just able to throw open the door this afternoon, making her way back to dilapidated home sweet dilapidated home.

"Hello? Is anyone else home?" Weiss voices, greeted only by the shitty acoustics of their little urban hovel. "Great. Just great." A most certainly inelegant shriek escapes from her lips. Stuck with nothing to bitch at for her terrible day, Weiss could only turn to the next best solution for her anger.

Food. Lots and lots and lots of food. Maybe Ruby was already wearing off on her habits. Whatever.

But she was in Ruby Rose's home now, and their budget wasn't exactly free. If she was back home, she'd call up Klein to order her at minimum, four-star catering and takeout which she'd engorge almost immediately, drowning her sorrows with what was life's second greatest of carnal pleasures.

Now she was stuck with whatever fancy goods they could splurge from Trader Han's; though she had to admit, the products they could peruse from there were of a much higher quality than she'd expected.

"Valean toast. I'm in the mood for some Valean toast." She nearly growls, storming to the pantry and vaulting open the doors to procure some necessary Brioche Bread-

"Oh my goddess. You monsters."

They'd eaten all the Brioche. (though to be fair, Weiss had been responsible for half the consumption)

"Why!? Why would you do this to me!?" She wails, cradling the Brioche bag as if it were her own kin.

And maybe she was getting a bit melodramatic here, but she was alone! She had every right to be as melodramatic as she could be when all by herself.

"I'm done." Weiss breathes, ready to be done with her day and turn in for the night. "I'm absolutely done. Nothing can repair my day. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is-brownies?"

Lying atop their oven that was likely as old as their mother; a platter of fresh, perfectly fine brownies, seemingly untouched. At this point in Weiss's delusions, it was a blessing from the gods at this point.

And of course, without thinking, she'd made her way over to the confectionaries, and bit into one, then another.

Then a third.

By the time she'd finished inhaling the third brownie, a symphonic mist of euphoria had clouded her mind, telling her to relax. That today was a shitty day, yes, but she still had her Ruby. And Blake and Yang were becoming less awkward to talk to…

The sofa they'd recently bought with Weiss's extra spending money seemed terribly inviting, so she plopped over, cradling the material with love. And so time passed. Time seemed to pass so quickly by once one had been sated from their emotional rage.

* * *

**Weiss**

Weiss hadn't a clue how much time had passed with her head swimming, her body clutching the couch for dear life, lest she might sink and drown.

Throbbing. Even while Weiss was keeping completely still, it felt as if she was being pushed forward in constant drugging waves. Each nook and cranny of Blake's sofa-bed digging into her sides, making her feel like an elevator, being pushed along, only to come back down… or was it the other way around, with her body digging into the bed?

In spite of it all, Weiss felt amazing . It was a drugging wave of euphoria and warmth that had washed her body away soon after she'd gotten home, bring her further in tune with her body, and the world around her.

And she felt… cared for. Sure Ruby wasn't the most… prosperous of her partners so far, but when Weiss talked, Ruby listened, unlike her past boyfriends. No half-interested 'mm-hmms,' no eye-rolling, and most important of all, no attempts at providing a solution.

As shitty as her current job was, as a barista, escaping work, coming home to Ruby, where the two could just complain about… work… was lovely.

She really should do something for Ruby soon, shouldn't she? They were… girlfriends, after all.

A snide chortle escapes her lips, slipping into a full on laugh. Girlfriends. With Ruby Rose. Goddess, Winter would kill her if she ever found out she'd run away into quite literally a peasant girl's arms.

Her hearing faculties are just functional enough to hear familiar leather boots clomping near the door. Ruby. Suddenly remembering the existence of her girlfriend, she makes an attempt to vault over to the door and give her a proper reception. Key word here being 'attempt.'

Instead, her body trips over herself, leaving her a mangled pile of bent limbs on the floor, wondering where all her coordination had went. And why her mouth was so dry.

"Weiss?" Ruby almost sings as the front door unlocks, only to jump at the sight of Weiss. "Weiss? What happened to you?"

The sight of her girlfriend causes the creases of her mouth to curl up in a big stipid grin. "I feel amazing Ruby…"

"Weiss?" Ruby coos, scooping up Weiss and dragging her back to the sofa-couch.

"Sounds exciting in here." She hears Blake say on walking in. "Ruby, what's going on?"

Before Ruby could even explain, Weiss tucks her arms under Ruby's jacket and pulls it up. "Come on Ruby. Cuddle me."

Blake's ears twitch in befuddled amusement. "Uh… not that I haven't gotten used to the two of you having sex by now, but I'd rather give you two some space. Except you're kinda where I sleep.

"Blake this is not what it looks like-hhh!" Ruby hisses, as Weiss takes a fleshy ear lobe into her lips, biting at the soft flesh.

Blake scoffs, murmuring something about tops and bottoms before heading towards the kitchen, leaving Ruby at Weiss's mercy.

"Wait," Blake calls out, "did you eat my brownies Weiss?"

Weiss giggles. "Yeah. They were the only things to eat in this house."

"We have oatmeal!" Ruby protests.

"Disgusting." Weiss pouts. "I'm sure that's expired or something."

"Ugh, it's perfectly fine, just whatever." Ruby huffs, trying to stave off Weiss's affections. "What about your brownies Blake?"

"They're uhm… they were the special brownies."

"Special how?" Weiss sighs, burying her face inside the crook of the sofa-bed. "They were wonderful yes, but they had some kind of earthy, grassy tone to them with a bitter aftertaste."

Ruby makes a long, drawling noise of realization, her free hand softly caressing Weiss's head. "You're high Weiss. Oh. My. Goddess."

"High?" Weiss sighs, before her brain goes heavy with realization. "Oh! That's why I feel so funny!"

"Blake!" She hears Ruby scold.

"What did I do?"

"Stop leaving your brownies out for us to accidentally eat! You should know that when some of us get hungry, we don't double-check what we put in our mouths!"

Weiss snickers. "I wanna put you in my mouth Ruby-"

Somehow, she could hear her girlfriend and Blake flush red at her comment.

"Whatever." Ruby grumbles. "Weiss, how're you feeling right now?"

"At peace." Weiss sighs. "I never knew this drug could be so enjoyable."

"She's really into it." She hears Blake comment. "She'll be out for the whole day probably."

"The whole day?" Ruby protests.

"I put a hundred in each brownie. How many did you eat Weiss?"

"Three." Weiss sings.

"At least the whole day. If not more." Blake says, taking her sofa-bed and pulling out her Select. "Though I could do with stoner Weiss. She's not as much of a bitch when she's all tuckered out like this."

"Excuse me?" Weiss and Ruby protest.

Blake snickers. "Can't hear you over my Pocket Monsters."

"Blake, are you high too?" Ruby asks.

"Maybe." Blake smirks, eyes focused on her little game.

Weiss sighs. "I'm going to be so very embarrassed about this when this is all over, aren't I?"

Ruby sighs, weaving a hand in Weiss's hair, gently massaging her scalp. "Well, Blake's done some really weird stuff when she's been cross-faded before. This barely even counts as embarrassing in comparison."

"I," Blake stammers, "well, uh, shut up Ruby."

"I could always tell Weiss about the time you took the Durban."

Blake flushes bright red, covering up her embarrassment with her Select. "You know what? I might as well get groceries if this is how you two are going to treat me."

Weiss scoffs at her. "Revenge Blake."

"Whatever." Blake huffs. "What do you know, you're high out of your mind right now."

"And I had a whole date planned out and everything, just the two of us." Ruby sighs, burying her head in Weiss's non-existent bosom. "But now you're super high and need to stay home so I can take care of you until you're sober."

"A… date?" Weiss asks, seemingly connecting the two words together in an attempt to climb out of her drawl. "A… date! Ruby, you didn't have to…"

"It's for the two of us you know?" Ruby mumbles in her navel. "I want to spend more quality time with you now that we're girlfriends."

"Oh, Ruby." Weiss's heart sinks; she'd gone and ruined Ruby's date on accident, and now her girlfriend would have to spend the next few days taking care of her. "Next week Ruby. I'll make it up to you then. I promise."

"You're not going to get high again next week, are you?" Ruby asks, maybe as a joke, maybe not. Again, she was too high out of her own mind to detect that from her right now.

"Maybe… once in a while. But I don't think it'll become a regular activity of mine."

* * *

**1 Week Later, Ruby**

"Weissy, I'm home!" Technically, Ruby had been meant to be home an hour earlier. But she'd gone and spent what little pocket money she had, visiting every damned florist in the city just for the perfect WhiteRose bouquet just for tonight.

Only to be greeted with the sight of Weiss blowing smoke out of her nose, Blake's bubbler in hand. Accosting her girlfriend, was her roommate, Blake.

"Oh." Ruby pouts. "Oh."

"Weiss." Blake says. "You've gotta show me your phone. It's such a trip."

Weiss groans, seemingly failing to notice Ruby's arrival. "Uhm, okay? It's not exactly that special?"

"Oh my god you rich bitch." Blake huffs, holding out her hands. "Gimme. Please."

"Fine, fine!" Weiss resigns, handing over her scroll to Blake.

"I still can't fucking believe it." Blake's eyes glow, already playing with the phone's 'innovative' folding function. "How the fuck does the glass not break?"

"I'm not," Weiss hacks out phlegm from her lungs, "an engineer. If I was, I'd be able to pull in a larger salary than this."

Ruby tries, tries, to not slam the door and toss the bouquet to the floor, but the door slams behind her and she runs into her room empty-handed, trying to deal with her stupid, stupid emotions.

She buries herself underneath a pile of blankets that badly needed washing, and just huffs heavy, stressed breaths while she can and there's nobody to laugh at her for feeling like this. She's just able to sense Weiss's body acting as a weight on their bed, but all it does is make her curl up into a ball even more.

"Ruby? What's wrong?"

"I'm," Ruby hiccups, "I'm being stupid."

"If you were being stupid, I would have told you." Even from underneath the blankets, Weiss smells like lilies and weed. "Ruby, talk to me-"

"You forgot about our date." Ruby finally spits out. "A-and I know I'm being stupid, but we haven't been able to go on a date since we got together, you know? Even though we spend a lot of time together here at home, I… I want us to be sorta like in the movies you know. With cute romantic dates and all, and ugh, I'm sorry, I-"

"Ruby." Weiss says, harshly, almost making her jump. Whatever Weiss had to say, it fell on deaf ears because she just wasn't listening after that point. In fact, when had she ever listened? Ruby Rose was a bad listener, because she just fundamentally wasn't a very good person, much less a potential partner-

"Ruby? Are you okay? I, did I say something wrong?"

"I'm sorry." Ruby manages, curling up further into a ball and not wanting to come out ever again. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"Ruby? Please, talk to me."

"N-nothing wrong." She manages, almost sobbing at this point. "My fault. Being stupid."

"I don't think that when the person you're with breaks down crying and sobbing, that it's entirely their fault, if any fault lies with them." Weiss's arms wrap around her, and again, she smells like weed and lilies, the aromas grounding her back to Remnant.

"I'm scared."

"Of what?" Weiss coos. She was making Weiss care for her. She was being unfair to Weiss. She was emotional labor.

"I'm being stupid."

She can feel Weiss flick her where her nose is supposed to be. "If you were, then I'd tell you! I'm… I'm the one who got high with Blake you… you stubborn, beautiful person. And I'm the one who forgot about our date and I ruined everything, so please talk to me Ruby. I just want to make everything better."

Through it all, she could hear the anguish in Weiss's voice. Again. Emotional labor. That's all she was.

How could she make it all better?

(just stop doing things/by not existing)

"I'm just afraid you'll get mad at me. Like Cinder." She almost immediately regrets the words right after they leave her mouth.

(just stop saying anything)

"Cinder? Ruby," Weiss was crying with her now, and cradling her in her arms. "Why would I get mad at you?"

Everyone does.

"I'm just afraid you'll get mad at me." She says again.

"Ruby. Please." Weiss's voice breaks. "Why would I do that?"

Why would she do that? Why wouldn't she do that? Relationships were fragile little things, and the slightest fuck-up could easily send a relationship right into the gutter. Ruby didn't want to mess up her and Weiss (at least, that's what she was telling herself). Trust was something so terribly difficult to earn, but it was so easy to throw it all away over silly mistakes. So it made sense that for their relationship to last, Ruby couldn't fuck anything up.

Ruby didn't have any more words inside of her now; she was too weak. So terribly weak.

"I don't know." She manages.

* * *

**Weiss**

"Cinder?" Yang recoils as the name escapes her lips. "How do you know-"

"Ruby almost had a meltdown earlier, and she mentioned her name." Weiss says, waving to the barkeep, Blake, to pour another Bee's Knees for her. "My treat."

Yang frowns. "Weiss, it's your money-"

"That I'm spending on you, as a friend. Now accept the drink."

"Sheesh, don't bully my girlfriend like that." Blake says, without protest in her voice, bringing up the ingredients to her roommates.

East End was a cozy little bar alongside Iapetus Beach that just so happened to be unfortunately situated on Iapetus Beach, a spot populated almost exclusively by twenty-something uni students and commitment-less youth looking for a buzz. Lined with bars and nightclubs as far as the eye could see, from far-off, one might have even assumed it was all one giant block party, which wasn't too far off from how it actually felt upfront during the summer rush.

And temperatures in Sainte Elise were just starting to spike up. Meaning this would likely be the last time the three of them could meet up at Blake's workplace like this without being swarmed by drunk sorority girls looking for a beer keg to chug or some other damned cliche.

The Bee's Knees. Honey Syrup (slightly thinned out with a bit of hot water,) Gin, Lemon Juice, and a Lemon Twist to Garnish.

Yang takes the drink from Blake's hands just as she's done pouring, kissing the ring finger before pressing the glass to her lips. "Absolutely fucking amazing."

Blake flips her hair. "Don't patronize me."

Weiss clears her throat. "Anyways, I was really wondering if you had anything to say about Cinder. It's clear the name bothers Ruby, but she's not willing to talk about it. So I was wondering if you two thought there was anything I should know on the subject without delving into Ruby's past too much because it's very much clear she has things she wants to keep well within the past, like all of us-"

"What is there to say?" Yang scoffs, sipping at her drink. "She's her ex. Ruby fell hard for her a long time ago. And Cinder was awful to her, because I wasn't there for her. There's not much else to say."

"How so?" Weiss asks.

Blake sighs. "Weiss-"

"It's okay." Yang says. "It's okay. I don't know much about Cinder either. All I can really say was that I wasn't there when Ruby needed me, and she ran right into Cinder's arms because of that."

"We weren't there when Ruby needed us." Blake adds.

"I failed her." Yang sighs, her eyes drifting off into a pain long since buried, but never fully healed. "And since then, there's always been a distance between the two of us, no matter how close I try to get with her."

Yang rests her head in Blake's arms. "I'd pour you another one Yang, but you've gotta drive home."

Yang whines, but acedes, twisting Blake's hair strands in her fingers, another wandering hand pinching her rear. "Thanks baby."

"Stay sober Yang." Blake scoffs.

"I'll try. Wish I hadn't left my internship up in Chromium Valley."

"But you got your self-respect back?" Weiss tries.

Yang pounds her fist into the bar table. "Yeah, I'm sure swimming in self-respect now. All I do now is watch kids who've barely hit puberty try to make out on the tunnel of love ride. Absolutely fucking great."

"Pays fifteen lien an hour." Blake weaves her fingers into Yang's hair, gently massaging her scalp. Even from a distance, it smelt of lavender to Weiss.

"I'm swimming in paper." Yang scoffs.

Weiss clears her throat again, hoping to draw the two from each other. "Regardless, I also had another question."

Yang shoots her a tired, but still warm smile. "Shoot Ice Queen." She seemed to revel in Weiss's annoyances with the small quirks of life with the three of them. Almost too much.

"Where exactly do you come up with these names…" Weiss groans. "Anyway, I need an idea on where to take Ruby on a date."

"Beach." Blake and Yang say in complete, monotone unison.

"Uh… okay. Could you please elaborate in a way that isn't so terrifying?"

"Ruby loves swimming." Yang says, cautiously, as if careful to pick her words. "Well, used to love it. She still does, but ever since… a while back, something… happened. Now she only likes to go swimming whenever she's by herself."

"I get the feeling you know more about this than you're letting on." Weiss says.

"You'll have to ask her." Yang nods. "Only reason I haven't told you is because she might be uncomfortable with it."

"Absolutely understandable."

"It'll mean a lot to her Weiss." Blake adds, eyeing a new bar patron waving her down. "When I get back, I'll tell you about something that can make your date with her really, really special."

* * *

**Weiss**

And so the beach it was.

In front of Weiss and her date, Ruby Rose, was the Chapel Beachfront. With nearly two miles of oceanfront boardwalk lined with shops and bars, Chapel Beach was the big city's take on the classic boardwalk beach town. Two miles of oceanfront boardwalk lined with retailers, souvenir shops, and amusement-park esque food stands that all seemed to be terribly, terribly overpriced compared to the food on offer just a half a mile or two inland.

And occasionally, there was the beachside bar for those looking to get drunk out of their minds, specifically the uni students who'd opted for a change of scenery from Iapetus Beach.

"The sea!" Ruby glows, quite literally dragging Weiss through throngs of drunken beachgoers. "Come on Weiss, let's hit the beach-!"

"Ruby Rose, wait!" Weiss protests, desperately trying to lug along the two backpacks full of supplies for their little outing together. "Let me get my footing first, you know I don't have any upper-body strength!"

"Well neither do I!" Ruby shouts, plowing past a family of four and making her way to the sand. "This is probably the only day in Feburary that the weather'll be fine like this Weiss, and I do not intend to waste it!"

Weiss groans, resolving to invest in a wheelbarrow or something for their next beach outing. In spite of it all, she couldn't deny Ruby's words. The sun outside was just unbearably hot enough to render a lazy day in their apartment a glistening, sweaty mess. And it was only Feburary, global warming be praised.

"They've really got it all here huh?" Weiss muses, staring at a nearby beachfront amusement park, the one Yang had taken a miserable job at.

At least she had Blake to iron her stressors out. Just like how Weiss had Ruby.

"Seems like the kinda place someone like you wouldn't ever get bored at, huh?"

"Nope!" Ruby smiles, and it's such a wide happy smile that she's never seen Ruby wear before, that it makes dragging along the deadweights that were her backpacks almost worth it.

Almost worth it.

After claiming a spot on the beach all for themselves, setting up their little site, and emptying their backpacks of sand (hey, Weiss was willing to work hard, only just from 9-5 at Indigo Coffee whenever she had work,) now was the moment Weiss had been anticipating for quite some time now.

Stripping.

Her sundress falls into an elegant pile on the ground, revealing the white halter bikini she'd chosen underneath. Behind her, Weiss could feel lingering eyes, hovering just where the curve of her cute (if she said so, and she did say so,) little ass, the perpetrator's face flushing warm and red.

"See what you like?" Weiss purses her lips, turning around to greet a dumbstruck Ruby.

"Uh-huh." Ruby nods dumbly, eyes wide.

"We've seen each other naked Ruby." Weiss teases, flicking her on the nose.

Ruby flushes even redder. "W-well yeah, but swimsuits are kinda different you know… they're kinda hotter in a way. Plus, everyone could be watching…" Ruby says, looking around for any peepers.

Weiss rolls her eyes, but smiles. "Are you saying you don't like the idea of others looking at me, Ruby Rose?"

Ruby pouts, but holds off from objecting or affirming her little tease.

"I think I've had my fun for now." Weiss says, turning to the cooler they'd brought with them with maybe some Atlessian Jager and Cola inside. "I'll turn around now, and when I'm done pouring my drink Ruby, I'll be expecting you to be just as enticing as I am right now."

And so she acts on her words, pouring herself some Jager and Cola on the rocks, taking a nice, long sip of the disgusting concoction, and turning around to be greeted with the sight of a fully-clothed Ruby.

"Ruby!" Weiss pouts, nearly spilling her drink.

Ruby holds up her hands in innocence. "I'm… not feeling it today." She says, trying not to meet Weiss's eyes. It was clear there was a glint of desire in her eyes, that was being overrun by something else. She could only assume insecurity.

Weiss sighs. "Ruby…"

Ruby sinks to her shoulders, almost curling up into a ball. "Sorry…"

"I understand." Weiss huffs, trying to contain her disappointment. "I just thought since the beach date was your idea, that you'd-"

"I get over excited a lot with certain ideas." Ruby mutters. "And then I get carried away with them. It's… stupid, I know."

"Ruby, I'm having a wonderful time." That gets Ruby to relax, just a little bit. "And you know what would make this little outing of ours even more wonderful?"

"What?"

"If my girlfriend got me incredibly wet by stripping down into her bathers for me."

Ruby nearly chokes.

"But… everyone's looking."

Weiss smirks. "I want them to look. They'll see how beautiful my girlfriend is."

"But you're so much more beautiful than I am-"

"Ruby if you spiral again right here and now, I will shove our entire bottle of Jager down your throat. Consensually, of course."

Ruby huffs something out about how that barely even made sense.

"F-fine!" Ruby stands up, backpack in hand and storming off to the nearest bathroom. Leaving Weiss alone to sunbathe and bask in the fact that her teasing had succeeded. Though she hoped she hadn't gone too far. If there hadn't been that glint of desire in Ruby, she probably would be trudging these god-awful bags home by now.

Left alone with the sun and a drink in hand, she's half-way to finishing her glass when Ruby returns, now covering herself with a towel like some damned nun.

Well, at least this was progress.

"Ruby, how am I supposed to admire you when you're covering yourself up?" Weiss pouts, gesturing at her to lose the towel.

"Y-yeah…" Ruby stammers, clutching onto the towel for dear life.

"Ruby, if you don't want to do this, or if I'm going too far, just tell me. We can pack up our things and head back if you want me to-"

The towel falls to the ground.

She'd thought Ruby would have worn the same swimsuit she'd worn last time she'd gone swimming, and she was there to lay witness to her form.

The frilly black top had been replaced with one that was lacier, held up by strings and ties. And the ruffled, skirted bikini bottoms had been replaced with one kept on entirely by string ties, covered up by a dark black sarong that was just see-through in the right light.

Swimsuits are by nature revealing. But for Ruby, there was just so much skin, she didn't know where to look.

"Uhm… Weiss? Does it work? My shoulders are kinda weird and all, and I'm afraid my hips aren't curvy enough for something like-"

Her drink spills to the ground, the sand and towel absorbing it below.

"I've never worn anything like this before to go swimming, but-"

"It's not strange at all." Weiss mumbles, only moderately jealous that Ruby was pulling off the look so well. And she was wet. Terribly, terribly wet. "Uhm, looks good. Great on you, I… uhm… words."

She wished she could have been more eloquent with her words, but her thoughts were backed up by her girlfriend's skin right now, so it was all she could do for now.

* * *

**Weiss**

An undignified squawk escapes Weiss's lips the second her feet step into the cold ocean waters.

"R-Ruby! It's cold!"

"That's the ocean currents for you Weiss." Ruby says, cradling Weiss's arm. "It gets better during the summer, promise."

"I'll take your word for it." Weiss manages through clattering teeth, crossing her arms at the ocean as if she were some disappointed mother.

She lets Ruby run off into the waves, diving in and wading off-shore and splashing around in the choppy waters.

Ruby seemed to be brighter than usual, as if the usual burdens of day-to-day life had suddenly been lifted from her shoulders. Seemingly glowing, almost, as she paddled around, breaking laps in her little impromptu swim practice. Though she couldn't help but worry about Ruby, with how far she was swimming out from shore.

She'd be fine, right? Yang had told her all about her love for swimming prior to puberty, so she should have been fine. Would she?

"Hello there!" A bright, if rather earnest voice called out from behind her.

Though Weiss hadn't planned much more than a little meet & greet with whomever wanted to talk to her, the stranger turned out to be a lifeguard.

And she turned out to be hot. Really really hot.

With a toned body that reminded her of the graphic novels of the Amazonian Queens (which always made Weiss blush every time she'd read about them and their marvelous, sculpted bodies), she couldn't help but be slack-jawed by… her. Just her. Long red hair done up in a ponytail that sashayed in the wind, tender green eyes that just carried an air of innocence with her, all complete with a two-piece lifeguard bikini.

Goddess help Weiss. For she could not help herself right in this moment.

"Is… that your friend? If so, she needs to get back to shore. The currents are changing, and they might sweep her away if she isn't careful."

The idea of her Ruby being swept up away from shore sends Weiss out of her sapphic stupor. "W-why are you telling me!? I can't even swim! Go after her then!"

The lifeguard shrinks, eyeing the waters with what seemed to be a dread. "Uhm, y-yes." She says, rubbing her toned arms. "That's exactly what I should do."

"Well then don't just stand there and tell me about your job. You have responsibilities, and you can't exactly back out of them right now." Weiss says trying to be as reasonable as she could in this situation. She really was trying to be anything but what Yang and Blake described as a 'Karen.'

"I… yes." The lifeguard says, almost robotically. Audibly taking a large gulp of air, she wades straight into the waters, and tries to walk the entire distance over to Ruby, seemingly (and very, very slowly), pushing the water out of the way.

"What is she doing…?" Weiss mumbles to herself, eyeing around for any other lifeguards.

It all quickly, very quickly, becomes a disaster after that, with the Ruby seemingly struggling in the distant far-off shore, and the lifeguard struggling to get after her, but flailing around in shoulder-depth water. It might have been funny to see, if it weren't for the fact that it was Ruby, and the ocean admittedly was outright terrifying when one thought about that.

She screams after Ruby, attracting a small crowd of concerned bystanders. Not knowing what to do, she'll scream at everyone to go help the two idiots, to which several would-be good samaritans volunteer for the job, preparing to wade off into shore, when someone pointed out that the lifeguard had made it over to Ruby. Somehow.

Only that actually, it was Ruby who'd made it over to the ligefuard, and was seemingly carrying her over to shore, now that she was closer in sight and her perception wasn't tricking her.

"T-they're coming back!" A faunus beachgoer calls out, eliciting a wave of cheers and applause for the audience Weiss had went out of the way to gather for Ruby's return.

"R-Ruby!" Weiss calls after them, moved close to tears. The drama of it all had been too much for one day, and if she hadn't been Weiss Schnee, she might have broke down crying then and there.

So instead, she'll settle for running into waist-deep water after her, making sure to plop a long and sensuous kiss for… saving herself. And the useless lifeguard, thank goddess.

And instead, she's staring again for the third time today. At Ruby. Who'd seemingly lost her top in the waters.

"Uh Weiss, can you help me my top back on…" Ruby mumbles, holding out her top for Weiss to handle.

"B-boobs." The lifeguard mumbles, washed out and seemingly done for the day. And perhaps the rest of her career.

* * *

**Weiss**

"You need to learn how to swim Weiss!" Ruby pouts, having dragged her girlfriend away from all the commotion back over to their beach towels.

"After that little display, I'm not sure if I ever want to step into the ocean ever again." Weiss grumbles.

Ruby rolls her eyes. "All you've gotta do is stay safe like me."

"You went out so deep we could barely even see you, you dolt! We thought you were drowning!"

Ruby's ears flush red. "W-well I was trying to tie my top back on! Then I saw the girl drowning so I decided to save it for later and help her and she might have gotten a faceful of by boobs and-"

Weiss rolls her eyes. "Ridiculous. How exactly does a lifeguard not know how to swim! It's absolutely obscene, and she needs to be fired immediately before someone drowns."

Ruby nods, drying her hair with a spare towel. "Mean, but yeah, that's pretty dangerous if she can't do her job." Ruby says, sipping at her cocktail, and wincing at the putrid taste.

"Exactly. I mean, she's an active danger to everyone around her, and my anger is completely justified-"

"Weiss, are you jealous she got to see my boobs?"

"Yes." Weiss grumbles, sinking underneath a towel she'd elected to cover herself with. "Yes, I am."

A rascal's smirk curls on her lips; Ruby coddles her now dejected girlfriend, cooing in her ear. "Aww, my poor ice queen is all jealous someone got to see the Ruboobies."

"Never call them that again." Weiss snarls through her blanket. "Whatever I say while I'm intoxicated is completely off-limits.

Weiss freezes for half a beat when Ruby sits behind her, pulling her into her lap, and wrapping her girlfriend in a warm, full-bodied hug, stripping her of her towels.

"You're ridiculous." Weiss grumbles. "But the gesture… isn't unappreciated."

"All hot and cold, you silly tsundere." Ruby giggles.

"A what?"

She can feel Ruby rolling her eyes behind her, so she won't push it further, instead opting to relax in Ruby's arms. And. It was very nice.

Ruby buries her face in Weiss's neck, content to just hum a little tune against the skin, tickling the little curvatures. Weiss sighs, just happy to be able to slacken in Ruby's arms, resting body against body, the curvature of Weiss's ass pressing against-

"R-Ruby." Weiss scolds, though not without a wicked grin. "Right here? Seriously?"

"You're the one who said you got wet right here for me." Ruby scoffs, taking the moment to start kissing down her neck.

Weiss feels her ears flush. She can't help but concede that point to her girlfriend though, so she'd let her ministrations continue for the time being. It also helped that Ruby felt very, very good.

She could only feel Ruby's gaze lingering up and down her body, and for once, she's all too keenly aware of the heat between her legs against warm beach skies.

Then. Ruby's lips finally press against her neck for a wet kiss, against the small of her neck. She very nearly jumps, her eyes darting around for any witnesses, any excuse for Ruby to stop this exhibitionism right now.

But goddess. It felt so good with Ruby's kisses lingering over her neck, her ear biting the soft flesh of the lobes of her ear. Hands tracking each curve that Weiss's body had to offer, pulling Weiss down so they could lay on their towels together, on their backs. Ruby's soft chest acting as a pillow and all.

The braid she'd done up today, all messy from their tribulations earlier, is brushed aside so that Ruby's tongue can swirl up and down Weiss's neck. Weiss hums a quiet moan; quiet enough for noone to be able to play witness to their little impromptu exhibitionism, loud enough for Ruby to enjoy.

Weiss looks around; it seemed noone was around, likely having moved due to the water conditions nearby turning unfavorable to the inexperienced. Without anyone nearby, she freely grinds her rear against the mound pressed against it. Ruby's breath hitches, her fingers skimming up the side of her thighs, teasing endlessly.

Before digging into tender flesh, dragging across and nearly drawing out a yip on Weiss's part.

Ruby, the smartass she was, places a finger to her lips.

"You little…" Weiss grumbles, Ruby chortling against Weiss's neck,plopping down a hot and wet kiss, sucking on soft skin and most definitely leaving behind a mark she'd need to cover up with makeup on tomorrow's shift.

A rogue hand reaches up, underneath her bandeau top, and cups the soft, if flat flesh underneath, freely groping the soft skin.

"Ah~" She very nearly sings. "R-ruby-"

Ruby shushes her, her palms providing much needed friction to the wetness of her core; she's so terribly soaked down there, and she couldn't be any bit ashamed. A long kiss draws out a lusty moan from the corner of her cheekbone. Fingers, Ruby's fingers slip underneath her bikini bottoms, a fevered yelp almost escaping from her lips.

She leans back further, almost arching her back against Ruby; if she was going to commit this sin, she was going to commit, and feel good while doing it. Ruby's fingers were unsteady and impatient, pressing inside her without so much as a tease, but they were Ruby's. But with a little practice and experience...

Cold fingers press inside the warm heat of her sex, already going for the clit. Ruby finds it, and Weiss might as well have been proud of herself for her coaching, if she hadn't been biting her lip to keep quiet.

"Stars Ruby. You're going to make me cum." She hisses.

"Kinda the point." She can feel Ruby's smug look on her face. And she drags her fingers in long, hard stroke against her clit, Weiss's breath hissing out in need.

"Now damn it." She manages. "Before we get caught." She can feel Ruby rolling her eyes, the damned smug tease, but Ruby acquiesces nonetheless, circling around the clit and flicking it just enough to send her crashing over the edge.

Weiss's body goes slack as a wave of need, of desire, pleasure and lust washes over her. Her own fervor trembles inside of her, shaking her, crashing into her until there was nothing left to resist. She was seemingly washed away with each and every drugging wave of her orgasm, washed out to sea, never to return.

Save for two strong arms around her. Ruby has her. Ruby has her-

"...you did save my life, so I won't blacklist you two as a favor. But… please. Consider a room next time?"

The lifeguard from before. Weiss's blood would have gone cold if her legs weren't jelly right now.

She could only hear Ruby dumbly nodding, saying her excuses and such. Her hearing was ringing her orgasm had sincerely knocked the wind out of her, leaving her an absolute mess.

"Weiss…? You there?" She hears Ruby say, noticeably shier and more humble than before.

"So I take it we have to move?" Weiss groans.

"Uhm… well… yes. But look on the bright side! Now she's seen the both of us all lewd and sexy and stuff."

"...when my legs start working again, you are carrying our backpacks back home."

* * *

**Weiss**

Though that hadn't been Weiss's plan at all really. Once they'd packed up their possessions and left, afternoon had set in. With the brilliant skies of Southern Vale bathed orange from the coming sunset, Weiss would take the lead, though it wouldn't be long until Ruby had picked up on Weiss's intentions.

Their real destination? Down the boardwalk, ten minutes from the trolley, was a small, abandoned, souvenir shop that private equity hadn't yet figured out what to bulldoze it for.

"We're going inside." Weiss declares, the crook of her arm locked with Ruby's.

"Why?" Ruby asks, seemingly having resigned herself to whatever plans Weiss had for her.

A sharp swat at Ruby's rear draws out a yip, Ruby looking around. Weiss produces the keys to the shop Blake had gone and loaned her as a favor. "Don't question me Ruby Rose, just do it." Another gentler, guiding hand pushes Ruby by the small of her back inside.

The two girls briefly broke apart to examine their surroundings. From what she could tell, the abandoned souvenir shop in it's heyday hadn't been too special from the competition alongside the oceanfront boardwalk. There was lighting, though terribly subpar, which was somewhat erotic with the right kinks. The interior was entirely looted of anything of value, with one notable exception; a plain mattress tucked away in a little corner of the stand, with fresh towels Weiss recognized from back home topping it off.

Goddess damn it Blake.

"Wait a minute." Ruby says. "Isn't this the place Blake used to work at?"

"Maybe." Not even her voice could feign innocence.

"This is cool and all, but why are we here?" Ruby tried to play it off as casually as she could manage, but she seemed to gobsmacked at deciphering her girlfriend's intentions to manage otherwise. "And why is there a mattress-" Ruby's voice hitches, her eyes glossy and flaring up with meek desire. "Oh. My. Gods."

"W-what?"

"H-here?" Ruby hisses, ears turning pink. "When there are people outside?"

Weiss huffs, perhaps a tad bit more infuriated at the 'incident' beforehand that she was more ticked off about than she'd like to admit. Ticked off, in an arousing sense of course. "You didn't seem to mind before."

Ruby seemed ready to spout out more protests, but the air had already been sucked out of her lungs somehow, rendering her voice impotent. "B-because-"

Two fingers shush Ruby's lips before go and waste any more of her precious, precious air, then shoving her against the wall. "Dolt. I've been planning this all day, and this is how you react? After embarrassing me in public like how you did earlier? It sounds like to me, that you're just being ungrateful Ruby Rose."

Ruby shudders at it all, but flinches at the word ungrateful. It's almost enough to get Weiss to back up and deescalate, but then Ruby's neck leans back to expose more skin. "I... but we... the trolley..." She mumbles out, hitching when Weiss sweeps a stray strand of hair back into place, leaning in for a kiss that would taste of Roses, and the Sea.

Which, in non-romanticized terms, meant she tasted like strawberry chapstick and salt. But details, details.

"We'll make it in time." Weiss growls. Every little feature of Ruby's that relaxed under Weiss's ministrations screamed vulnerability. "The last train leaves in three hours. Plenty of time for us to… experiment."

Another kiss, this one longer, wetter, more desperate, with Weiss all but shoving her tongue inside Ruby's mouth. A high-pitched, breathy moan all but silenced by Weiss's mouth. Ruby's hands, clumsy as they usually were, skim up Weiss's sides, trembling and holding on for dear life so dearly that it's almost insulting. Weiss had her. She has her. Doesn't Ruby realize this?

Weiss's hands wander to the knot of fabric keeping Ruby's top up; without it, her top would fall, leaving bare breasts exposed for the world to admire. Another kiss, from Ruby, to her jawline. Sucking and nipping at her delicate flesh, the first of the loops is undone.

Then a second kiss, nibbling and biting at her collarbone, sucking hard and leaving behind wet, black welts that'd last for a week at least; with it, the second loop goes, leaving Ruby's top to fall to the floor below.

Ruby's eyes and body were screaming for more; and Ruby seemed miles away from any protests. She'd done it; Weiss had successfully seduced Ruby into canoodling at Blake's old workplace. With each touch gazing Ruby's bare skin, she could tell her partner was ablaze with desire, and couldn't simply wait for home anymore.

"F-fine you big jerk." Ruby stammers, pushing Weiss off for desperate air. Weiss had no choice but to admire her work. She'd gone and turned Ruby truly as red as her namesake, and had seemingly sucked all the air right out of her. Her bottoms were well and truly wet, with the tip of her sex already creeping out, the delicate lace straining to contain the extent of her arousal. Her creamy skin, laid bare by her efforts, still marked by previous trysts from every night prior (it wasn't as if their sex life had been lacking, simply everything outside of it was). "B-but if the mattress smells anything like Yang, we're going home."

Weiss's body was already screaming for more, already giddy with excitement. "You don't seem exactly happy." Ruby yips as Weiss throws her arms around her waist, lifting her to the mattress and dumping her there like some usable ragdoll. Weiss crawls atop her, the curvature of her groin curving up against Ruby's clit, and Ruby grinds, desperate for her release.

Weiss pinches Ruby, drawing out another yip. "So impatient."

"Weiss!" Ruby pouts, gasping as Weiss brushes a teasing finger against the tip of her sex.

"Be patient little slut." Weiss growls, placing the next kiss atop Ruby's breast, twisting the teat with her teeth, Ruby letting out an unsteady moan, her eyes already rolling to the back of her head, hands grasping onto the mattress for dear life.

"...more. Please." Ruby murmurs, her voice barely intelligible over her own breathing.

Almost lost in her needy eyes, Weiss takes a stern hand, pushing her further into the bed, clearing a path way for Weiss to kiss her way down Ruby's body. With each kiss, Ruby jumped, and it very nearly turned into a game with Weiss wanting to see just how Ruby would fare further down the road. Ruby would have none of it; perhaps after realizing, perhaps out of desperation, two arms clamp around her head, pushing her down to her needy clit, whining something unintelligible of perhaps how much Ruby needed her and to stop teasing.

Weiss huffs a breath against Ruby's needy sex, and leaking out messy precum still. For now, a rough spanking at her thighs will do as punishment, Ruby writhing with each smack of the flesh.

"P-p-please Weiss I n-need you p-please-please more-more-more!" She was babbling now, and it was almost terrifying even. If she weren't so incredibly aroused, right now, Weiss might have freaked out over the possibility of fucking Ruby's brains right out of her body, but now, she took it as a sign to finally pull her bottoms down, Ruby's sex wet and glistening with precum, and the rest of her body perfectly trimmed and/or hairless.

"Ruby?"

"Y-y-yes?" Ruby manages.

"You're wet for me." She growls. And without warning, she shoves her mouth down Ruby's clit. Ruby was a small girl, far smaller than the other... experiences she'd had before with the men she'd been set up with (don't think about it now), but taking Ruby whole felt almost sacrosanct. She was small, making her easy to take entirely, and the precum she'd already been leaking out wasn't nearly as terrible as that of the men she'd gone and taken before. (Though thinking about this now brought up the time when Yang had warned her that not all cis girls down there tasted... palatable either.)

Ruby had no choice but to take it all, moaning, sweating, squealing, begging Weiss for more all the while. Her words, already nigh unintelligible, clumped up and smashed together entirely, rendering her vocabulary into monosyllabic screams. Two hands, loving hands, slip into Weiss's mane, gently caressing her Weiss continued her torment, Ruby seemingly desperate to cum.

"W-weiss! I'm c-close-" Ruby manages as her eyes dart open, seemingly warning her to get off before she would climax.

Weiss would have none of it. Well, technically she would have all of it if she wanted to, but the linguistics didn't matter here.

Ruby's hips buck desperately into Weiss's mouth, trying to drag out the orgasm that seemed to be so close to crashing over her, with Weiss pressing further and further down onto her clit, moaning around Ruby's sex. Eventually, it's all enough enough for her poor lover to finally cum, squirting right into her mouth, then again.

Then a second wave came, then a third, and it wouldn't be long until Weiss would start to worry if Ruby was just like those videos she'd gone and watched on incognito mode back at home.

Ruby's voice, incoherent and frantic, would eventually taper off into breathy, if absolutely wrecked notes occasionally hitching and sighing with each other.

Licking up the last of Ruby's thin, if salty cum, Weiss pulls off her now very well-used clit, crawling up Ruby's body to cradle her in a loving embrace, there'd be nothing else but themselves to hold onto as they recovered.

For now, she'll settle for holding her dear lover up close, fishing out a water canteen from their bag for Weiss to wash down her throat with, and for Ruby to suck on while she regained her faculties.

Just short of ten minutes later, Ruby's breathing was still very much ragged when she'd make her first attempt at words. "Weiss…"

Weiss had elected to hold Ruby, spooning her from behind. "Yes Ruby?"

Ruby shifts in her arms, turning around to face her. Her silver eyes had been seemingly been cast aflame.

"More…"

They would spend quite a long time together, just the two of them that very night.

* * *

**Bonus: Weiss**

"Weiss, you're off your game today." Gwen, Weiss's coworker at Indigo Coffee, waves a hand in front of her face with Weiss's eyes barely following. "You need a break or something?"

"That…" Weiss yawns, ready to contest. If she took a break now, they'd probably find some way to dock her pay. "Sounds nice. Apologies. Didn't get much sleep last night."

"I can tell." Gwen sighs. "Boss said it can't be helped then, and that you should go home and get some rest."

"That… sounds nice."

"Try not to spend too much time canoodling with your bae, and actually get some rest?"

Weiss very nearly chokes. "But, I, wait, but, I, stop, but how!?"

"Those hickeys you have on your neck? Yeah, your makeup didn't work girl. Sheesh, just how wild were you two last night?"

"EH!?"

* * *

_if you like this, telling me what you like/didn't like it might please the egotist in me. or i might get depressed again and not update for a month or two._

_if my writing skills have declined in quality since my hiatus, please tell me. I'm pretty sure they have lol_


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